The Green Lady
by sdbubbles
Summary: When Jac, Serena, Hanssen and Jonny stay in a hotel, Jonny tries to tell Jac and Serena their room is haunted. They, of course, tell him to stop being an idiot. But are his claims founded? Can Jac and Serena stay in that room for three nights?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is just a bit of fun, but the legend behind it is real. In the Thainstone House Hotel, outside Aberdeen, there's a room haunted by a young woman who died in an accident. My mum worked there and was cleaning the room - the door shut and locked itself and the woman was sitting on the bed. So I do believe in these things, because I've had encounters like that before. And there have been bloody weird houses I've lived in. So expect this to get a bit creepy, but it'll be quite funny at the same time :)**

**Sarah x**

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Jac, Jonny, Hanssen and Serena walked into the hotel after a long day in Aberdeen, touring the hospital, the children's hospital to be toured in the morning, and Jonny had convinced Serena and Hanssen to go to the theme park on the last day. How he had managed that, Jac would never know. She knew Hanssen had opted for this hotel because the area was quieter, and Thainstone was only less than fifteen miles out of Aberdeen.

"Good evening," the pretty receptionist greeted them. Jac rolled her eyes when she saw Jonny eyeing her up to himself. "Names?"

"There should be one room booked under Hanssen and one under Campbell," Serena smiled, rifling through her bag for her ringing phone. No doubt it was her daughter, a theory confirmed when she excused herself.

"OK," the girl smiled. "Mr. Hanssen and Mr. Maconie?" she asked. "You two will be in room 336," she handed Hanssen his room key.

"Thank you," he replied.

"Ms. Campbell and Miss Naylor, you two will be in room 406," she added and gave Jac the key in Serena's absence. Jonny let out a bark of a laugh before shutting up; Jac spun around to see him looking torn between amusement and horror. She turned back to see the receptionist looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Thank you," Jac said pointedly. She went to get Serena, who was arguing over the phone about what her daughter was to do for dinner, and they proceeded to find their rooms.

"You do know about room 406, don't you?" Jonny asked her. He looked quite pale at the thought.

"What about it?" she humoured him. She knew he wouldn't shut up until someone asked what he was on about.

"It's _haunted_," he informed her. She saw the expression on his face and had to fight her laughter back. He looked quite comically frightened.

"Haunted, my arse," she snorted. Next to her, Serena hung up the phone, muttering under her breath about teenage girls and bad attitudes. Something told Jac that this girl of Serena's was quite a handful. But then she shouldn't have been surprised. It was Serena Campbell's daughter, after all.

"Who the hell booked the hotel?!" Jonny demanded.

"That would be me," Serena drawled, putting her phone back in her bag. "What's wrong with it?" she added, looking to see what was going on. Jonny said nothing, obviously trying to hold his tongue. "Go on, Nurse Maconie. Spit it out."

She must not have been listening the first time. Jac just grinned to herself; she wasn't gullible enough to fall for all this _haunted_ crap. There was no such thing. The idea that spirits lingered on this Earth after death was nothing less than absurd.

"Jonny?" Serena asked again, sounding slightly more worried.

"So you didn't look this place up? Room 406?" he asked. Serena just shrugged indifferently. "This place is haunted."

"Don't be so stupid," she scolded him. His expression of horror didn't diminish. "What do you think, Mr. Hanssen?" she added.

"I think hauntings are just people's imaginations running wild," he said, the finality in his tone not to be argued with. Jonny remained unconvinced as Hanssen opened the door to their room. Not to mention he look uncomfortable at the prospect of sharing a room with Hanssen for three nights as well.

"Have fun," Jac smiled sweetly at Jonny, who made a face at her as he followed Hanssen in the door and slammed it behind him. She turned to see Serena looking very much amused by Jonny's discomfort; for all the woman was feared by most, Jac found her a woman she could get along with.

"He's going to have the night from hell in there," Serena smirked as they walked away towards their own room. "Can you imagine sharing a room with the Swede? I think I would have to hang myself with the curtains."

Jac burst out laughing at the image of the woman hanging with the curtains around her neck. Jac hadn't given Jonny's fears another thought; he could be so childishly gullible at times. She had to admit she missed having him with her, but she was too proud to admit she was wrong.

"If my phone rings through the night, it'll be Eleanor," Serena warned. "I might have to jump through the phone and strangle her. She's hopeless when she's left alone at home. Either she gets lonely or she throws a free-for-all and I end up picking up the pieces," she ranted. Jac just smiled to herself, wondering what it must be like to raise a daughter single-handedly as she knew Serena had been left to do.

"Don't worry," Jac smiled. "I'll help you."

Serena laughed and unlocked the door, unceremoniously dumping her holdall at the foot of the bed. It was a kingsize bed, and Jac didn't really care about sharing a bed with Serena. There was about five feet between them anyway.

"Tell me," Serena sighed, throwing herself on the bed. "Did you understand a single word that doctor said?"  
"Nope," Jac replied cheerfully, looking in her bag for her pyjamas. It was only eight o'clock but Jac was suddenly very tired. "He called me a "bonnie quine," didn't he?" she added, smirking at the memory of the old, grey-haired doctor saying it to her.

"Yep. That's a complement, apparently," she laughed. "Good thing Maconie knew what he was saying."

"Maconie's from Drumchapel, not Aberdeen," Jac corrected her with the knowledge.

"Same sort of thing, isn't it?"  
"Nah. All the cities have different accents. Jonny constantly mocks people from Inverness," Jac explained. "Says they've got a "rubber bumper,"" she explained. She turned to see Serena looking confused. "Next time you're in Inverness, get someone to say the words "rubber bumper." You'll die laughing," she advised.

"I'll bear it in mind," Serena laughed. "You know, I'm very glad we've already had dinner. I just want to sleep now."

Jac sat down and took her make up off while Serena groaned and stood up to get changed. "Showing your age there, Serena," Jac smirked.

"Excuse me!" she retorted, feigning offence. "I'm not even ten years older than you!"

"I know."

"And I have more life experience than you," she added.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Jac replied, allowing the acidic bitterness to taint the words, but making sure she kept her voice soft and level. Serena said nothing more until they were side by side in bed, staring upwards through the darkness, though Jac felt her resisting the temptation to ask he meaning behind the words.

"You don't think Maconie's right, do you?" Serena asked. Jac just smiled for a moment. Had he actually got Serena Campbell wondering if she was sleeping in a room with a ghost?

"Biggest load of crap I've ever heard," Jac assured her.

"You do hear of that kind of thing though," Serena reasoned. "And this building looks really old."

"Oh my God," Jac groaned. "There is no such thing as ghosts!" she asserted firmly. Of all people Jac would have thought would believe such idiocy, Serena wasn't one of them. At this rate, Hanssen was going to be cowering under a blanket soon enough. Again, Jac was fighting the urge to laugh at the idea of Hanssen hiding under a blanket.

"No, you're right," she agreed, finally pulling herself together. "You're right. I'm just being stupid." There was silence once more for a few minutes, until Serena broke it. "What did the gynaecologist say?"

"What?"

"The gynaecologist," she repeated. "You don't honestly think I fell for the "thirty-seven-year-old woman with abdo pains" disguise? I didn't fall in the last rain shower, you know!"

Jac sighed. She had been wondering if she had actually pulled the wool over Serena's eyes but now she knew she hadn't, she was rather glad. It meant someone else knew, and therefore someone else knew she wasn't just being a nasty cow.

"Endometriosis."

It was one word that explained everything. "Ah," Serena sighed. "Does Jonny know?"

"Why would I tell him?" Jac demanded. Serena gave a humourless laugh.

"He's your boyfriend," she told her, as if it was blindingly obvious.

"Not anymore." The memory replayed itself in her mind. The argument, and her hand slapping his face with all her strength. The aftermath and Jonny's subtle way of asking if that was them finished. How she was stupid enough to let him go.

"Oh, for Christ's sake," the older woman moaned. "If you're telling me you dumped him rather than tell him the truth, you will be the one haunting this room when I'm done with you," she threatened. Jac laughed despite the bitterness of the conversation. "He loves you, Jac. You can see it a mile off."

"Yeah, well, he may have actually given up on me this time," Jac mumbled. She hated to admit it, but it seemed Jonny don't have the energy to deal with her madness anymore.

"He's never given up on you before now?" Jac could just see Serena's raised eyebrow and sceptical smirk.

"Not really."

"Then I don't think he's really given up on you," she replied. With that final assertion, Serena said to her, "Goodnight, Jac."

"'Night, Serena."

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This is where things start to get...interesting ;) thanks for all the nice reviews - I was slightly unsure of uploading this so it's reassuring to know someone enjoys it :)**

**Sarah x**

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Serena woke with a start when she felt a cold hand on her arm. "What, Jac?" she sighed exasperatedly. "You nearly gave me a bloody heart attack!" she scolded.

"Don't you think it's awful cold in here?" Jac whispered.

"What?" she sighed, still half-asleep.

"Do you think it's too cold?" she repeated. Serena lifted her head and looked around to see only the outline of Jac's face through the darkness. Since when did Jac Naylor wake someone up to fret over the temperature of the room?

"A bit. Go and shut the window if you want," she suggested, closing her eyes again. She felt the pressure lift off Jac's side of the bed and her light footsteps towards the window. She smiled to herself and pulled the duvet up to her chin.

"Huh," Jac huffed. "Window's already shut."

"Oh well. It's an old building, Jac," she replied. "It's bound to be a bit chilly. Come back to bed," she ordered her, almost like she was ordering a child about. She didn't move, so Serena moaned, "Jac, put a jumper on and get back into bed, or you'll freeze to death," her eyes still closed. "Jac?"

"Yeah," the younger woman finally answered; she sounded a bit unsure, which was very unusual for Jac. Serena was starting to wonder if Jonny's claims of a haunting had rattled her; she seemed quite unsettled.

"Everything OK?" Serena asked her through the cold darkness. She heard Jac dig through her bag for a sweater and get back into bed. Serena groaned and reached out for her charging phone. "Oh, for the love of God," she whispered. Three missed call from Eleanor and it was only just past eleven at night. The last one was ten minutes ago; she sighed and said to Jac, "I'm going to have to call Eleanor."

"Go right ahead," Jac replied.

Serena pressed the green dial button and put the phone to her ear. It rang twice before Eleanor answered, "Hello?"

"What's wrong, Eleanor?" Serena asked.

"Where did you hide the chocolate?" Eleanor asked. Annoyance started to build inside Serena – had her daughter actually been phoning her to know where the chocolate was?!

"Are you being serious?!" she demanded. "Three missed calls at this time of the night because you can't find the bloody chocolate?!" Serena heard Jac burst into fits of laughter, much to her annoyance. "Jac, shut up! It's not funny. And Eleanor, you're lucky I'm on the other end of the country or I might have killed you!"

"What?!" the girl answered. "I want chocolate!"

"Well, I'm not telling you where it is," Serena snapped. "That's what you get for being so silly," she added childishly, making Jac laugh even harder.

"Nice to meet you, Pot. My name's Kettle! How are you on this fine evening?" she quipped sarcastically.

"Don't get narky with me," Serena drawled to her daughter while Jac was doubled over with laughter. "Yes, Jac, because it's _hilarious_."

"Then don't be so annoying!"

"Don't push your luck, young lady!"

Jac was still laughing next to her, so she kicked her lightly in an effort to shut her up. It became obvious Jac wasn't going to stop laughing until she hung up the phone, because her arguments with her child were so obviously entertaining for her.

"Can't push something you don't have!"

Suddenly, there was a scraping noise from the corner. "What the bloody hell was _that_?!" Jac shouted, and Serena strained her neck looking around at the redhead. What surprised her more than anything else was the less than calm reaction Jac was taking to the unknown noise.

"What's going on?" Eleanor demanded. Jac dived out of bed and put the lamp on, picking up the standing mirror from the table as a weapon.

"Nothing, darling," she reassured her when they were sure there was nobody there with them. "The chocolate is slotted between the DVDs of "The Possession" and "The Angels' Share." Hidden in plain sight," she added, knowing it would annoy her daughter, but wanting her off the phone as quickly as possible.

"OK, thanks," Eleanor replied, sounding suspicious. "I'll speak to you in the morning?" she checked. Serena couldn't help but roll her eyes. The girl whined every day that she wasn't a child and that she was independent but she still wanted reassurance from her mother.

"Of course. Night night, sweetheart," she said to her.

"Night, Mum," her daughter answered before hanging up the phone. Serena stiffly got out of bed and looked around. There was definitely nobody there.

Jac's stare was fixed on the corner, and she looked slightly aghast. "The chair," she whispered. "The chair's been moved at least a foot!"

"Don't be silly, Jac," Serena said sternly.

"I'm not, Serena!" Jac argued. "I am _telling_ you it wasn't there before!"

"Rubbish," Serena scoffed, getting back into bed. The things were going, she was going to be the only one who felt safe in this room. Well, perhaps Hanssen would have been alright, but she knew getting Jonny to sleep in here would have been like trying to get a cat to jump in the River Don.

Jac still didn't move. "You are joking," Serena moaned. "Look, it was probably just someone outside or someone on the stairs," she tried to reassure her.

"Maybe," she allowed uncertainly.

Then realisation fell over Serena, and she let out a sharp laugh and got out of bed again. "Come with me," she ordered Jac. She opened the door and stalked down to room 336, ready to commit double homicide. How annoying could two people possibly be?! Hanssen and Maconie were behind this; Serena was sure of it.

She banged on the door with her whole fist. "Open up, Maconie!" she shouted. She heard someone getting out of bed and turned to smirk at Jac, who seemed to be cottoning on quickly enough as a look of amused distaste crossed her face.

The door opened and Henrik Hanssen stood over her, wearing a dark grey dressing gown and black pyjamas. "What do you two think you are doing?" she snarled at him, deliberately making him think she was angry.

"What's goin' on?" Jonny called sleepily over to them. Serena pushed past Hanssen, taking Jac by the hand into the room.

"Yes, Ms. Campbell," Henrik added, closing the door behind them. "What _is_ going on?"

"Oh, don't plead innocent with me," Serena sneered. "Bratty little toerags, the pair of you!" she accused. Hanssen, however, either had an extremely good poker face or he was genuinely confused. "Silly, immature little boys! I take it this is one of your boarding school pranks?" she shot at Hanssen.

"What?" Jonny asked, sitting up in his bed. She had to force back a smile; Jonny's side of the room was already a tip while Hanssen's was OCD-ishly neat and tidy. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe the room sharing would be more of a nightmare for Hanssen than for Jonny.

"The chair!" Jac informed him. "You two are messing with our room, and we won't fall for it," she warned, her tone razor sharp.

Serena watched Hanssen's reaction very carefully; he didn't even blink. What were they up to? "Miss Naylor," Hanssen finally spoke. "I think you need to calm down. Both of you," he added, throwing a pointed look at Serena. "Tell me what is going on."

Serena shared a look with Jac and knew they were thinking the same thing. The two men seemed genuinely dumbfounded by their accusations. Jonny looked even more dense than usual, and Hanssen seemed to find the whole thing quietly and cynically amusing. "It's nothing," Serena finally relented. She was convinced now that they had nothing to do with it, and she didn't want to make herself and Jac look like idiots.

"It sounds like a bit more than nothing," Jonny butted in.

"Shut up, Maconie," Jac snapped.

"What was all that about a chair, Jac?" Jonny demanded, running his hand down his face tiredly.

"Doesn't matter," she replied. Serena's attention remained fixed on Hanssen as she attempted to work out if he was up to something on his own. She never would have pegged him as the kind to wind people up like that but she also had never doubted there was a part of him more than capable of getting up to mischief.

"What about you?" Serena asked Hanssen suspiciously. "I fully accept Jonny is innocent, but I wouldn't put it past _you_," she explained, making him smile slightly. She squared up to him slightly so he knew she was serious. And then she remembered she was wearing pink pyjamas and probably looked pathetic squaring up to a six-foot-four man with a deadpan stare and unwavering confidence.

"I can assure you, Ms. Campbell," he retorted, "that I have not been in your and Miss Naylor's room, let alone touched anything in it."

"Fine," Serena sighed. "Fine."

She turned and steered Jac out of the room, shutting the door behind them. "You believe them?" Jac asked her.

"Yeah," she answered, as much as she hated to admit it. Jac smiled and started to walk back to their room until she reached the door, her hand about to open it when she stopped dead.

She turned to Serena and smiled too sweetly, "After you." Serena rolled her eyes and opened the door, throwing herself back into bed.

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the brilliant response to this story :) and if you're easily scared, then I would switch the light on before you read on ;)**

**Sarah x**

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"The redheaded lass," a voice whispered. "She appears to be concealing an ailment from the one she loves."

"Mother, do leave it alone," another, much younger, Scots' voice retorted, her voice equally low. She sounded torn between boredom and amusement. "The lives of our guests is no business of ours."

Jac woke with a slight gasp. She looked around her but found nothing but darkness. She was contemplating waking Serena but doubted the woman would believe her. There was nothing there anyway.

"That is not the issue," the older woman argued. "I am only concerned that she has isolated herself. And the Campbell is quite obviously mother to all and daughter of none."

"Mother!" the young woman sighed exasperatedly.

"Hey!" Jac hissed. "Whoever's there, cut it out!" She whipped her head around when she heard a soft giggle from near the door. "It's not funny!" she reminded whoever was on the other side of the door, winding her up. But how would anyone else know that she was hiding her diagnosis from everyone but Serena?

It was too strange.

"Serena," she murmured, her hand on the woman's soft arm. "Wake up!"

"Wassup?" she stirred. Jac gave her a moment to wake properly before bombarding her with the suspicions running through her mind. Surely Jonny wouldn't go to such extreme lengths to wind them up.

"Serena," Jac whispered. "Serena, is there anyone outside the door? There's someone talking about us."

"How am I meant to know?" Serena replied grumpily, obviously unhappy with being woken again.

"Go and check," Jac ordered her, only realising now that she really did sound childish. Serena turned on her elbow and Jac didn't need the light on to know she was currently on the receiving end of one of Serena's renowned and feared glares. "Please," she added.

She groaned and got out of bed slowly. She took the few necessary steps over to the door and opened it, revealing the dimly lit corridor outside, and no people, living or otherwise, talking about anything, let alone Jac and Serena. "Happy now?" she demanded, still quite grouchy at being woken up for a second time tonight.

She picked up her phone to check the time as she climbed back into bed, grumbling to herself, "One in the bloody morning. What do you think you're doing, waking people up at this hour?!"

"Sorry!" Jac whispered. "I swear to God, Serena! There were people talking about us."

"You were probably just dreaming, darling," Serena mumbled, reaching behind her to rub Jac's arm soothingly as she started to fall back to sleep. Jac smiled to herself at being addressed as such by Serena Campbell, knowing sleepy softness was a weakness in Serena's armour. It had been a long time since a woman had addressed her with any kind of motherly affection, and it made Jac feel slightly warmer inside.

Jac closed her eyes hesitantly, still smiling. She thought of what the voices had said; if it _was_ a dream – Jac wasn't even sure – then was it her mind telling her to tell Jonny what was going on? To let him know she had endometriosis?

And as for what was said about Serena...what did her mind even mean by that? "_Mother to all and daughter of none_," Jac whispered to herself.

"What?" Serena muttered. Jac opened her eyes, realising Serena had heard what she had said.

"Nothing," she replied to the back of Serena's head. As she closed her eyes, she caught a glimpse of a dull outline in the corner of her vision. Her eyes snapped open and she stared at the outline, unable to rip her gaze away from the chair.

It was the outline of a person's body sitting in the chair, leaning their elbows on the window sill. She couldn't blink. "The chair," Jac gulped, the words catching in her throat. "Serena, look at the chair!"

"What about it?" she grumbled, leaning up on her elbow.

"Don't you see that, Serena?!" Jac whispered frantically. "How the hell can you_ not_ see that? _Look_!"

Serena paused a moment before she replied to Jac's panic.

"There's nothing there, Jac," Serena tiredly replied. "It's just a bloody chair. Go back to sleep."

Jac squinted at the outline, seeing that it was a woman. She could clearly see a cloak; it was dangling just above the floor. Jac fumbled on her bedside unit for her phone, intending to use the light to see if anyone really was there. She tried not to turn but had no choice when she nearly dropped her phone.

When she looked back around, she, for only a split-second, saw a young woman sitting there just staring out the window. When she blinked in surprise, the woman was gone. "Bloody hell!" Jac shouted. Without thinking she dived out of bed and switched the top light on. There was nothing there.

"Knock it off, Jac!" Serena moaned. "You're the world's biggest sceptic, remember?" she reminded her.

"No, no, no," Jac rambled. "There was a woman sitting there!" she insisted, pointing at the chair. She realised too late that her hand was shaking. Serena unwillingly got out of bed – yet again – and scoured the room.

"There must be a projector or something in here," she explained when she caught Jac's questioning stare. "They're up to something. Hanssen and Maconie. They're taking the piss."

She looked under the bed and found nothing. "The Swede must be up to something," she concluded, though there was no evidence. Jac opened the door and left the room. It was creeping her out now. She went the first place her mind took her – Jonny. She knocked on the door, far lighter than Serena had done. She waited for about half a minute until she heard footsteps approaching the door. It opened to reveal Jonny standing in his "Beer Monster" pyjamas.

"Jac?" he asked her, confused as to why Jac Naylor was standing before him at one o'clock in the morning.

"Can I come in?" she asked. "Please?"

Jonny sighed as he debated it, and then replied and rubbed his neck, "If you don't wake up Hanssen." She smiled in thanks and stepped inside silently. She sat near the foot of Jonny's bed. "What's wrong?" he groaned quietly, pulling the covers back over his legs and switching the lamp on. It was dim enough not to wake a lightly snoring Hanssen but bright enough for Jac to see the unamused look on Jonny's face.

"Do you really believe our room is haunted?" she asked him, hoping he would say he had just been pulling their legs.

"Honestly?" he checked. "Yeah, I do," he admitted.

"Shit," she swore under her breath.

"What's happened?" he demanded; she could tell he was starting to worry about her.

Jac looked up from the floor to meet his eyes; she wouldn't blame him for thinking she was off her head. "I heard...voices. Two Scottish women, talking about me and Serena," she confessed. "And I could have sworn I saw a woman sitting in the chair."

Jonny didn't say a thing for a moment but Jac saw he didn't think she was mad. When he finally spoke, his voice was reassuring. "If they're there, and they're the ghosts, they won't hurt you or Ms. Campbell, OK?" he assured her, reaching out to take her hand in his. "They didn't die violent deaths so they have no reason to hurt anyone, alright?"

"Is that how it works?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I really don't know."

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Jac absorbed everything. She was never one to believe in the supernatural but she had never encountered anything like this before. "When they were speaking about us," Jac began, her voice barely a whisper, "they sounded..._concerned_."

"I was brought up to believe in everything," Jonny said. "But my granny always told me a ghost will never hurt you."

"Have you seen anything like that before?" Jac asked. From the way he was hesitating she could pretty much tell the answer for herself. He opened his mouth to speak when there was a loud, impatient banging on the door. Hanssen woke with a start and pulled his dressing gown on. "That's Serena on the warpath."

When Hanssen answered the door, Serena didn't wait for an invitation. "This is going to stop," she snarled up at the Swede. "You hear me? You've got the poor girl scared out of her wits!" Jac was slightly taken aback; she had never seen Serena so fiercely protective before, and definitely not of Jac.

But Hanssen had been genuinely asleep when Jac came in. It couldn't have been him. Hanssen looked around and saw Jac, confusion in his dark eyes. "Don't be ridiculous," Henrik retorted. "If you're referring to Miss Naylor, then I'm sure you can see that she and Nurse Maconie are having a perfectly pleasant midnight chat."

"Yeah, about the _ghosts_ in room 406," Serena sneered at him, the fourth word scornful. "Whatever you're doing, bloody well stop it!"

"I'm not _doing_ anything!" Hanssen replied, his voice steadily rising. Serena took a daring step towards him at the sound of his frustrated tone.

"Serena, it can't be him," Jac broke in. "When I came in here, he was asleep. For real. Wasn't he, Jonny?" Jac asked the Scot, who just nodded.

"You cannot expect me to believe that there's something out of the ordinary going on in that room," she asserted to Hanssen, who just gave her a complacent look. The honesty in his eyes was undeniable, and Jac could tell that Serena knew it too. "OK, then," Serena said carefully. "Let's say there _is_ something funny about that room. Are we in danger?"

"No," Jonny answered for Hanssen. "They won't hurt you."

"_They_?!"

"We'll be fine, Serena," Jac assured her. "And like you said, it's probably me just me dreaming about random crap," she added, though she knew it was a lie. She stood up and put a hand on Serena's back; the older woman was still glaring at Hanssen like it was all his fault, even though it was becoming abundantly clear the men had nothing to do with this.

Jac guided Serena out the room, smiling back at Jonny in thanks before she closed the door.

* * *

**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to leave a review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this :) It's great fun to write. Maybe slightly worrying that I'm writing this kind of thing at this time of the night though ;)**

**Sarah x**

* * *

Serena sighed, unable now to sleep. It was six in the morning. She had slept for a couple of hours once she got Jac settled but her subconscious had ungraciously woke her ten minutes ago. Almost as bad as raising a child all over again.

She carefully turned around to see a sleeping Jac; she could vaguely see her peaceful face through the dark and brushed any stray hair that fell over her sharp cheekbones. Serena smiled to herself. Upon meeting the woman, the cheekbones had been one of the first things she had commented on.

She felt a little sorry for Jac. She had obviously, yet again, blown it with Jonny. Now she was ill and had nobody. Her chances of becoming a mother were now slim, not that she seemed to want children. By all accounts she despised them. But Serena knew the day would come when she would realise maybe she wanted a child. And when that day came, Serena hoped Jac would have someone to confide in about it.

Her mind wandered to tonight's events. There was no doubt in her mind that Henrik Hanssen was up to no good. He would just love the chance to wind her up and she knew it. She was yet to work out how he was doing it, but when she did, she was going to make him wish he had never been born. Two could play at that game, she had learned long ago. Hanssen was a formidable opponent, but she had no doubt she could take him on. He had annoyed her for long enough; it was time to get back at him for it. Of course, she couldn't do much until she proved it, which she fully intended to do.

As for Jonny...Serena actually believed him when he said he had nothing to do with it. It was clear to her that he really did believe in ghosts. Though he probably only backed the Swede up out of fear of losing his job.

"She is awake," a woman whispered. Serena froze. The voice came from the door; no doubt Hanssen had a recording of some sort behind the door.

"She is merely checking on the child, Mother," a young woman retorted. Child? Was she talking about Jac.

"The redhead is hardly a child."

"To the Campbell, she is," the younger voice sighed complacently.

"Henrik, you're not funny!" she called, making sure she wasn't loud enough to wake Jac up. The alarm would go off at seven and she wanted her to get as much sleep as she could after what was a disturbing night for her.

The room was strangely cold again; Serena pulled the duvet over her shoulders. "She believes the Swede in room 336 is tormenting her," the older woman laughed.

"Nice touch," Serena snapped.

"She will believe," the young woman assured. "She will be convinced."

"A gullible pair of chambermaids on a voice recording isn't going to scare me, Hanssen!" Serena insisted, knowing he could hear her. "Just because a twenty-year-old leggy blonde was charmed and fooled by the world's sexiest Swede does _not _mean I will be," she ranted. Shit. Did she actually just say those words?!

Silence fell on the room. The women's voices said no more. She could just see Hanssen on the other side of the door, cynically laughing to himself. Tosser.

Now left in peace and quiet, she closed her eyes and tried to get another half hour's sleep. God knows she was going to need it if she was to survive the children's hospital. She hated to see anyone sick, but especially children. It reminded her how easily it could be her child in that position.

She drifted off again, only to be woken soon after by the shrill sound of the alarm on her phone. She buried her face in her pillow, not wanting to get up after a night of broke sleep. Jac silently got out of bed and stepped into the bathroom. Serena assumed she was having a shower so sat up reluctantly. Her assumption was proved when the sound of the shower came from the bathroom.

Serena recalled the events of an hour ago and found herself livid with Hanssen. Winding her up was one thing but Jac seemed genuinely frightened by the whole thing. She had even ran to Jonny in fear of what was going on.

She had half a mind to go down there and slap him for it.

Before she knew it, Jac was back out of the bathroom, wrapped up in a towel and sitting on the bed as she tried to decide what to wear. Serena sighed and went into the bathroom, brushing her teeth; the mintiness stung her throat as it always did.

She stepped into the shower and allowed the hot water to wake her up properly. The more aware she became, the angrier with Hanssen she found herself. After a few minutes, and after she had washed her hair, she realised she was really quite furious once more. "You know," she called through to Jac. "I should go and slap that stupid, arrogant, Swedish moron!" she recounted her previous thoughts.

"You don't know it's him up to no good!" Jac reminded her.

"Yeah, but it would be just like him, wouldn't it?" she shouted back through the walls and past the sound of the running water. "Has everyone thinking he would know a joke if it hit him in the balls and then go and wind us up in the dead of the night! I'm sure that would appeal to his messed up personality!"

"He's a thorn in my side too but-"

"He's a thorn in your side," Serena snorted when she stopped speaking. "He's a pain in my arse! Honestly! Henrik Hanssen must be the most frustrating man I have _ever_ come across, in every conceivable sense of the word!"

"Serena!" Jac berated her. "I would shut up if I were you!"

Serena rolled her eyes as she switched the water off. "I bet he charmed two women into letting him record them and played it outside the door!" she called, wrapping a towel around her body and one around her short hair. "Just because every other woman he comes across falls for the sexy voice and the waistcoat," she ranted away to Jac as she opened the bathroom door, "and the outdated-swallowed-a-dictionary-an-encyclopedia-an d-a-thesaurus-at-birth way of speaking," she made her way to her bag and knelt down, "does not mean I am so gullible as to fall for him, or anything he says or does, no matter how sexy he comes across!" she finished.

She took a deep breath and stood up holding a bundle of clothes. She turned to see Jac but jumped in fright. There stood Hanssen and Jonny next to a smirking Jac. "I must say, Ms. Campbell," Hanssen broke the tense silence, "you do make me sound like quite the charmer."

Serena was horrified at what he had just heard. "I'm sorry," Jonny apologised, unable to curb the fits of laughter building up inside of him. He and Jac looked at each other and started giggling.

"I did tell you to shut up," Jac reminded her.

"Yes, thank you for that reminder, Jac," Serena retorted, unable to tear her gaze away from a clearly amused Hanssen. It was only when his eyes started to wander down her body that she realised she was wearing only a towel – a short one at that – and he had a rather good view of her legs and chest. She felt the blood rush through her to her cheeks and head, making her feel slightly dizzy.

Jac seemed to notice. "Right, boys, let's leave the Iron Lady to get dressed," she ushered them out before retreating to the bathroom, presumably to brush her teeth and touch up her hair and make up as well as give Serena privacy.

_Well_, Serena thought to herself ans she started to get dressed, _I made a right mess of that_.

"You heard them then?" Jac called through to her. "You said it was two women. I never said it was two women."

"You cannot be telling me they've got you convinced," Serena retorted.

"To be honest," Jac began to reason, and Serena again rolled her eyes. She had thought Jac would have taken more convincing than that. "I don't think Hanssen would do that."

"Want a bet?" Serena challenged. "He's not the saint everyone thinks he is," she stated as Jac came back into the bedroom.

"Serena, calm down," she replied, handing her the mirror and a hairbrush. "If it _is_ Hanssen, then you don't want to give him the satisfaction," she added, rubbing Serena's back soothingly. Since when was Jac touchy-feely like that, anyway?

Serena said nothing else as she did her make up and fixed her hair. It dawned on her that she was going to have to face Hanssen after all that. Christ. She felt like jumping out the window now.

They joined Jonny and Hanssen for breakfast; Serena could not bring herself to meet Hanssen's gaze while Jac and Jonny were desperately trying not to laugh at the tension. When they finished, Jac and Jonny walked ahead of them while Serena and Hanssen lagged behind to check out for the day. As they crossed the lobby, Hanssen said to her, "About earlier-"

"Mmm. Get a good look, did you?" she cut across him. She looked up at him briefly, glad to find he was uncomfortable. "Yeah, don't think I didn't clock that," she sneered.

He sighed. "Serena, I don't mean to alarm you," he began, but the use of her first name in itself was alarming to her, "but I swear I have done absolutely_ nothing_ to your room. Whatever has been happening has nothing to do with me or Nurse Maconie."

It was the reality Serena didn't want to face, but she couldn't doubt his innocence when he said it so gently. He wasn't defensive like before. He almost seemed worried. "Fine," she sighed.

"Good," he replied, and she could have sworn she saw a twitch of a smile cross his face. "The towel suited you."

He stalked off, leaving Serena stunned that he would make such a comment. But it left her wondering something else...if it wasn't Hanssen thinking he was funny, then what in the world was going on?

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to drop me a review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello :) This isn't a scary chapter. I promise. But it's leading up to the next one, which takes place back in room 406, sooooooo... ;)**

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews!**

**Sarah x**

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Hanssen was driving on the A96 towards Aberdeen; he hated this road. Roundabout after roundabout after roundabout. The others, Serena in the passenger seat, Jac and Jonny in the back, were discussing what had happened last night. Serena had seemed so sure that he was behind it but, truth be told, Hanssen was finding himself agreeing with Jonny.

"What do you think, Mr. Hanssen?" Jac asked him as he took the exit to take them into Aberdeen.

"I would rather not comment," he reasoned. "I don't like the idea of colouring your and Ms. Campbell's judgement."

He heard a cynical snort from Serena's general direction. She may have accepted he and Jonny were not behind anything that happened, but he didn't expect her to believe in anything beyond that. It was, after all, Serena Campbell. He didn't let on because he knew she would only be scornful, but he had reason to believe in spirits.

"So, what, you believe in it all?" Jonny asked. Hanssen looked back at the Scot's reflection in the rear view mirror. "Ghosts? Demons? Spirits? The supernatural?"

"Call it what you want," Hanssen retorted carefully with a quick glance at both Serena and Jac. "Not everything can be explained by the laws of the natural world." He saw the surprised look on Jac's face fade to the realisation of why he believed in such things. Serena was just grinning disbelievingly to herself as she realised she was the cynic in the midst of three believers. And Jonny, well, he looked quite comforted to know he wasn't alone in believing it was all real.

"Of all the people..." Serena muttered to herself.

Irritated by her yet again, he called her out on her remark. "If you have something to say, Ms. Campbell, say it," he ordered her icily.

"Alright," she snapped. "Just last night you said it was people and their imaginations and now you're effectively saying you believe in it. Make your mind up!" she told him harshly.

Hanssen fell silent for a moment. He had his reasons for his beliefs. But he didn't want to say anything in front of his colleagues, Serena in particular. She would be very quick to call him crazy. Very quick to mock him. But part of him wanted to reassure Jac that whatever was in her room would not hurt her; he could tell she was worried and after Serena's outburst at one this morning it was clear her room mate was concerned about her.

The rest of the drive was silent. He resolved to pull Jac aside and reassure her when Jonny and Serena were distracted.

He thought about the coming day – he hated seeing children ill. As a doctor, he hated to see anyone ill, but children...he hated it. He parked the car and everyone got out. Serena was laughing at something Jonny had said and they walked in to the hospital together; Henrik knew they were trying to keep each other's spirits up since everyone was tired with a long day ahead of them.

"Miss Naylor," Hanssen said. She spun on her heel to face him. "Ms. Campbell said you were frightened, sleeping in that room." She remained silent and looked at the ground, obviously reluctant to admit it. He came to stand next to her and said, "In my experience, ghosts and spirits, as Nurse Maconie describes them, do not wish to harm anyone."

"In your experience?" Jac raised an eyebrow at him. "_You_ have seen a ghost?"

"I never did tell you why my father and I moved into the apartment after my mother died," he began. They started to walk slowly towards the hospital. "The house we lived in when my mother died...she walks the grounds at night. She never came into the house but it terrified my father so we moved to the city, not long before I started school in England."

"And she never tried to hurt you or your father?" Jac asked sceptically.

"No. She merely walked up and down lake, sat on the pier," he explained. "I used to sit and watch her from my bedroom window, until my father saw her one night and all hell broke loose. I never let him know that I knew why he moved. It does make me wonder why he went back there though. Perhaps the fear faded and he wanted to feel closer to her," he guessed.

Jac looked up at him. "So what you're trying to tell me is not to be scared of what happens in room 406?" she surmised. He gave her a curt nod and she smiled. "Thank you. I didn't think you'd take me seriously if I said I thought Jonny was right."

"I will always take your worries seriously, Miss Naylor," he reminded her. "Surely you have grasped that by now."

Jac just smiled as they joined Serena and Jonny at reception. This was where Serena and Jonny were different from Henrik and Jac. The nurse and the consultant laughed through everything; Jac and Hanssen tended to think about things more.

Before they knew it, they were on the General Surgery ward. Hanssen could see Jac was nervous. He knew that, while he, Jonny and Serena – being a mother herself – were fine with children, she didn't feel comfortable around children. She was eyeing the crying child in cot eight with trepidation. The child's mother was sitting with her head in her hands, obviously at her wit's end.

To everyone's surprise, Serena asked the mother, "Do you mind if I hold her?"

"Aye, if you think you can get anywhere with her," the woman sighed. Serena gave her a small smile before picking the girl up; she was around six months old, with blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Ssh," she whispered to the child, but she just kept crying. "_There's a cross above the baby's bed, a saviour in her dreams, but she was not delivered then, and the baby became me_," she sang softly. Hanssen, Jac and Jonny looked at each other in surprise when the girl's cries grew softer. "_There's a light inside the darkened room, a footstep on the stair, a door that I__'ll__ forever close to leave those memories there_," she sang again. "_So when the shadows link them, into an evening sun, first there's summer then I'll let you in, September when it comes_."

The girl had completely stopped crying, much to the mother and the nurses' relief. She handed the child back to her mother, coming back to join her colleagues. "Thank you," the mother said to Serena, who just smiled.

Hanssen couldn't resist teasing her. It wasn't often he got the chance. "So," he said. "Serena Campbell is not actually made of granite."

"Oh, very funny, Henrik," she snapped. "Just because we're in Aberdeen? Really?"

That had actually been unintentional – he had completely forgotten about this city's industry. "That's not the point," he reminded her. "The point is that half of our hospital is terrified of you but you're not even what they think you are."

"What am I then?" she asked complacently as they lagged behind Jac and Jonny. They seemed to be getting on like a house on fire but Hanssen knew they had not long ago had an epic falling out, resulting in Jac slapping Jonny.

"A mother," he said simply. She stopped walking but he continued, leaving her standing confused in an unfamiliar ward.

By the time they were eating dinner, Hanssen was regretting allowing Jonny to railroad him into using the third day of their trip to visit a theme park. He didn't like the idea of his staff, Jonny and Serena in particular, morphing into children when faced with ten pin bowling and carnival rides as he knew they were going to. Jac would probably let loose a little too, but he couldn't see himself enjoying it.

When they were finished eating, Jonny asked for the room key; Hanssen could see he was exhausted and gave him it, watching him go up the stair, leaving him alone with the women. He knew that when he followed, the room would resemble a rubbish tip once more, even though he had cleaned up after him this morning. He left a mess behind him every time he moved, it seemed. It was like he had a laundry basket tired to his back and clothes fell out with every step her took.

The three of them only sat there for another half and hour and Henrik suspected they were delaying going back to their room as much as they could. He was amused to see Serena was more afraid than Jac was now that he had managed to reassure the younger woman.

When he entered his own room, Jonny was already in bed playing something called "Fruit Ninja." He had attempted to explain it last night but Hanssen had not seen the appeal in cutting up fruit with his finger on a tablet.

He got changed and brushed his teeth, not surprised to see Jonny's section of the room in a mess. He stepped over his jeans to get to the bathroom and back and soon found himself lying in bed. He wondered if the women would be able to handle two more nights in a room Henrik had no doubt really was haunted. He only knew one thing – if Serena attempted to knock the door down again and barged in shouting the odds at him, he would gag and bind her until this trip was over. He was even tempted to make that a permanent arrangement.

Jonny had obviously been thinking the same thing. "Do you want me to just not answer the door tonight?" he asked.

Henrik gave a slight chuckle and said, "It would be in our interests to open the door to them should they need us. Ms. Campbell would only put her foot through it if we ignored them."

Jonny started laughing and put his tablet down. "And she would come in whether we like it or not," Jonny added. He lay down and switched his lamp off, leaving them in he darkness as Henrik just waited for a bang on the door.

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry this wasn't finished earlier. Got sidetracked with a video. And the fact my mother can barely navigate the back garden and decided she should drive in Dundee. We ended up in Claverhouse, Fintry, Kirkton and Whitfield before we ended up in Douglas, which was where we were _meant_ to be.**

**As always, thanks to all my lovely reviewers!**

**Sarah x**

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Serena opened the door and, rather cautiously, walked into the room. All seemed fine for now but she didn't doubt for one moment that it would be another disturbed night. She watched as Jac silently picked up her pyjamas and headed to the bathroom. She seemed slightly more withdrawn in the past hour, and even paler than normal. She was in pain; Serena was sure of it.

She knocked on the bathroom door. "Jac," she called. "You alright?"

There was a brief pause before she heard an answer, "Yeah, I'm fine." It didn't set Serena's mind at ease in the slightest. She sat down on the bed and picked up her own pyjamas and toothbrush, glancing around her until her eyes fell on a small packet on Jac's bedside table. She stretched over and picked it up – it was empty. She had run out of painkillers.

So Jac _was_ in pain. Serena put her pyjamas on and rubbed her neck lightly. She was exhausted, after a day of the children's hospital. She jumped when the bathroom door opened and Jac walked back in the room with a small smile.

Serena sighed and went in to brush her teeth but heard a yelp from the next room. Her first thought was of Jac and she hastily spat out the toothpaste and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. She entered the bedroom to find Jac doubled over in pain. Immediately she came to Jac's aid, a hand on her back. "Alright," Serena said. "OK. Come on, sit down." Once Jac was safely on the bed, Serena scolded her gently. "Why didn't you tell me you ran out of painkillers?"

"I thought I could handle it," she admitted breathlessly.

"Mmm," Serena raised a knowing eyebrow. "Learned your lesson?" Jac nodded and Serena added, "First thing in the morning we'll get to a chemist and get you some half-decent painkillers. Paracetemol isn't going to make a dent in this."

Jac crawled under the duvet and Serena joined her after she switched the light off. Jac groaned in pain again. Serena sat up and put her fingers gently in her red hair, stroking lightly as she decided to do what she used to do with Eleanor – sing her to sleep. "_There's a cross above the baby's bed, a saviour in her dreams, but she was not delivered then, and the baby became me. There's a light inside the darkened room, a footstep on the stair, __a door that I'll forever close to leave those memories there_," she sang lightly. "_So when the shadows link them, into an evening sun, first there's summer then I'll let you in, September when it comes_."

Jac seemed to relax a little so Serena lay down on her side next to her, putting a hand on her arm calmingly. "_I plan to crawl, outside these walls, close my eyes and see, __and __fall into the heart and arms of those who wait for me_," she whispered, and felt Jac's body relax against hers. "_I cannot move a mountain now, I can no longer run, I cannot be who I was then, in a way, I never was_."

She could tell she had calmed her down so she could control the pain a little better. "_I watch the clouds go sailing, I watch the clock and sun, oh, I watch myself depending on, September when it comes_." Jac mumbled her goodnight and thanks and Serena smiled to herself. "_When the shadows link them, and burn away the past, they will fly me like an angel to, a place where I can rest, when this begins, I'll let you in, September when it comes_," she finished. It had worked; Jac was now asleep.

Serena sighed, "'Night, darling," and closed her eyes, hoping tonight would be more peaceful than last night. She didn't even know what to believe now. She had always thought there was no basis to claims of ghosts and haunting but, hell, Hanssen even believed in it. She didn't doubt he had a good reason though. She gave him that – there was always some reason for everything he did.

But now she didn't know. It sounded ridiculous, but those voices last night were not her imagination. And Henrik swore blind it wasn't his doing. She felt a strange need to talk to him, to know why he believed it. To know he wasn't simply attempting to frighten her.

She made sure Jac was properly asleep; her breathing was slow and her body was limp. She slowly swung her legs around.

"Where is she going?" a voice asked. It was the older woman from last night. Serena found herself frozen, sitting on the edge of the bed.

There was an impatient sigh. "I hazard a guess she is going to see the tall man she found herself humiliated in front of this morning," the younger voice answered. She sounded bored. It was almost like the way Eleanor spoke to Serena on a daily basis. Just like the girl had sounded on the phone. "In the first instance I thought them married, but evidently I was mistaken," she added.

"The thought crossed my own mind," the older woman admitted. "There is a strange bond between them."

"I will agree with that," the younger of the women allowed. "The way he eyed her this morning made him completely transparent."

"Oh, give it a rest," Serena muttered as she managed to stand up. Brilliant. Talking to invisible people. The first sign of insanity. "Me and the Swede," she snorted as she carefully crossed the room, stepping over her bags. "Honestly."

She opened the door; an icy blast of air rushed past her, knocking all the air out of her lungs. "What the bloody hell?!" she exclaimed quietly and breathlessly. She glanced back at Jac's sleeping form, deciding she would not be harmed, before she closed the door and tried to regain her breath before speaking to Hanssen.

She carefully walked down the hallway, one foot in front of the other, trying to believe an open window caused that gust. But no matter how she tried to rationalise it, that was no ordinary gust of wind. Iciness like that simply did not occur naturally.

Before she could gather her thoughts she was stood outside their room. She took a breath and knocked lightly. She waited until Hanssen opened the door and scanned her face; when he found no anger he stood aside for her and got back under his duvet. "Ms. Campbell?" he asked, sounding rather worried. "Has something happened?"

"No," she denied quickly, not wanting to let him know just how strange her room was becoming. "Why?" she asked as she searched his face. "Why do you believe in ghosts?"

He met her gaze for only a moment before he looked away from her. She was slightly surprised when she realised he was checking if Jonny really was asleep. "I've seen one," he admitted to her.

"Who?" she immediately asked. "Was it someone from centuries ago or..." she trailed away, lost in her ocean of thoughts. Why was she asking Hanssen about this? It was more than just self-assurance that he wasn't winding her up. She actually wanted to know what convinced him.

She sat down on the bed, level with his knees as he sat up against the headboard under the dim lit of the lamp. She stared him in the face and searched helplessly as she tried to work out the reasons for his hesitations, and then she realised it was personal. There was something deeply personal about his experience with the supernatural.

"Henrik," she whispered, reminding him that she had asked him a question.

"It was my mother," he replied, his voice barely more than a mumble. "The house I lived in as a child. My mother would wander about at night."

Serena was confused; she closed her eyes as she tried to work it out but her tired mind found no success. "You'll have to start from the top," she sighed.

"My mother committed suicide when I was a child," he explained. "She put stones in her pockets and walked into the lake. Ever since, her..." he hesitated, and she knew he was searching for the right word. "...spirit has walked the grounds."

"And you're sure it wasn't the figment of a young boy's imagination as he grieved for his mother?" she dared to ask. She could barely see him as a child, never mind a motherless child.

He shook his head. "My father saw her. It terrified him at first, and he took me and moved into the city, but he went back there at the end of his life. My assumption was that he wanted to feel close to my mother when he died, for us all to be there as a family for the first time in too long."

Wow. Henrik Hanssen had just openly spilled his guts to her. She had to resist her maternal instinct – despite the fact he was older than she was – to hug him tight.

"That," he warned in a return to his usual strictness, "goes no further."

"Goes without saying," she murmured back to him. She glanced over at Jonny; he was still fast asleep, one arm draped over the edge of the bed as his chest moved slowly. She looked around her and her face broke into a grin. "I take it Jonny's idea of tidy and yours are not at all similar."

He gave a small smile and replied, "Would you believe that I cleaned up after him just this morning?"

"And I thought Eleanor was bad," she smiled gently. "Why do you think Jac felt it all first?"

"They say ghosts and spirits reveal themselves first to the innocent," he suggested. "I know Jac Naylor, in many senses of the word, is far from it, but in a way she is childlike. They say that is why children feel their presence more than adults."

"But I'm not innocent and I feel it," she contradicted him. She saw him smile to himself and demanded, "What?!"

He paused for a moment before he gave her a reply. "In the aftermath of what happened to your mother, everyone saw you become angry and dangerous," he told her. "What I saw was a child trying to protect her mother when the roles were reversed unexpectedly."

She shook her head to herself with a tiny smile she hoped her could not see. She reached out and took her hand in his. She knew when they returned to Holby this encounter would be buried under all the politics and strains of work and misplaced distrust, but for now she enjoyed having him understand her and being able to understand him.

There was a loud knocking at the door; it woke Jonny, who jumped to his feet without fully waking, and got to the door before Hanssen could even get out of bed or Serena could get to her feet. Jonny opened it and there stood a crying Jac Naylor. Serena glanced at Henrik, who looked rather horrified, before she watched in disbelieving fright as Jonny instinctively pulled Jac into the room and into his strong arms.

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**Hope this is alright!  
Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello again :) First, if you're easily frightened, at least stick a light on for this. It doesn't particularly bother me but I know there are people who get scared. Second, this overlaps with the last chapter, and starts when Serena is singing to Jac. It explains a lot. And thirdly, thank you for all the lovely reviews - much appreciated! :D**

**Sarah x**

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"..._oh, I watch myself depending on, September when it comes_," Jac heard Serena singing. She suddenly felt drowsy – not ill, but sleepy. And the pain had gone. She relaxed very quickly, before she could even protest to being mothered by Serena. She didn't have the energy. Not that she didn't find it a welcome comfort, but she didn't want Serena thinking she was weak.

She was vaguely aware that she thanked Serena and bade her goodnight, but it was hazy. It was something strange that she had never felt before. A deep relaxation. Only ten minutes ago she had been in absolute agony but now there was no pain.

This wasn't normal. It wasn't natural for her to fall so easily to sleep, especially with someone else in the bed with her.

Jonny's face flitted in and out of her vision. The harsh words he had used. _Any product of your womb would have an evens chance of being the anti-Christ_. But then he was smiling at her suddenly.

She wasn't sure how long it was before the dreaming stopped and darkness descended upon her. It, to begin with, was peaceful. Calm.

But then she got the sensation of the darkness swallowing her up. When she opened her eyes, Serena wasn't there. She tried to roll onto her back but she couldn't move. Fear ran cold through her – why couldn't she move? She tried to move her legs but nothing happened. "Serena?" she whispered. It seemed her mouth and voice were working. Serena, though, definitely wasn't there.

She tried with all her might to move her body but didn't get anywhere. "Whatever you're doing, stop it!" she cried into the darkness. She was shocked to find tears of fright rolling down her face.

"Why are you doing this?!" she demanded; she was becoming more and more panicked as it sunk in that somehow, she had been stripped of her mobility. "Have I done anything to hurt you? Why are you doing this?!"

She was sure the ghosts in here were doing this. It wasn't numbness. It felt like she was being tied to the bed with such force that no effort on her part would move her body.

She closed her eyes, squeezing her eyelids tight together in the vain hope that this was the weirdest and most terrifying nightmare she'd ever had. But it wasn't. She was very much awake. She opened her eyes and stood before her was a young woman with blonde hair. She was wearing what seemed to be horse riding clothes, covered by a long forest green cloak.

She stood out against the darkness, like the light emanated from her. Her skin was pale but had a radiant glow. Jac was speechless.

"What is endometriosis?" she asked curiously.

"What?" Jac demanded. Really?! She was being bound to her bed by the supernatural and all the ghost wanted to know was what endometriosis entailed?

"Endometriosis," she repeated. "I would like to know what it is."

"It's an illness," Jac allowed. "It causes fertility problems and intense abdominal pain in women."

"Tell him," the woman ordered her. "The Scot and the Swede. You confided in the Campbell woman. Why?"

"Her name is Serena," Jac retorted. She didn't like the way this woman referred to Serena. It sounded derogatory and mean.

"In my time her surname would have been more meaningful than her Christian name," the blonde reasoned. Jac did understand that but it didn't apply now and she would not have Serena being referred to as "the Campbell woman."

"Yeah, well, it's the twenty-first century now," Jac snapped. "She's the oldest, most experienced woman I know. That's why I told her. Now. Will you bloody well let me move?!"

The woman said nothing. She just stood over Jac. "Where's Serena?!" she demanded.

"She went to visit the Swede. Are they in a relationship?"

"You mean other than a working relationship they both wish they didn't have?" Jac retorted acidly.

"Really?" she replied. She looked really quite surprised. "I felt an odd tension between them. I first thought they were married." Jac gave an undignified snort at the idea of Serena and Hanssen being involved personally in any way, never mind married. "You are a strange woman."

The way she said it frightened Jac; she sounded more than curious – almost angry.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Jac cried out. "Please, just let me go. Let me go!" she shouted. Incessant tears rolled down her cheeks. Suddenly her body was freed. She could move. The first thing she did was get out of bed, trying to get as far away from the woman as she physically could.

The woman disappeared. Vanished into the darkness. A blast of cold air rushed through Jac, leaving her feeling frozen and terrified.

Jac started to cry. She didn't know the reason. Shock, and fear, probably. She ran to the door as she left the room as fast as she could, going to the place she knew she was safe. Before she could control herself, she was knocking on the door. In seconds, Jonny answered. The first thing he did was pull her into his arms, and into the room, kicking the door behind him. "Sshh," he whispered, and she felt his face pressed into the top of her head. She sobbed into his chest; she was so scared. More scared than she had ever been in her life. "Jac, calm down," he warned her.

This was more terrifying than anything her mother had done to her, or any other prospect she had faced in her life. At least then she had known what was going on; this was the unknown and it terrified her.

"What the hell happened to you?!" she heard Serena demanding. Jac answered the question in her mind and realised she had been under the woman's influence the entire night.

Even falling asleep to the sound of Serena's lullaby had been their doing; tiredness had fallen over her like a heavy blanket she couldn't shake off. She suspected the dissipation of her abdominal pains had been down to them, too, and that terrified her. She had not expected them to have control over her body.

She regained some control over her breathing and pulled herself out of Jonny's comforting grasp. "I thought you said they wouldn't hurt me," she shot at Hanssen.

"What's happened?" he asked calmly.

"They forced me to go to sleep," Jac recalled as Jonny sat her down on the bed, his arm around her shoulders. "When I woke up, Serena was gone and I was paralysed."

"_What_?!" Serena shouted.

"Well, not paralysed," Jac amended. "It was like they bound me to the bed. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't move! And then she showed up!" she explained earnestly, trying to make them understand.

Henrik and Serena looked at each other in shock. "She's young. Blonde. Horse rider by the look of her," Jac described. "She's wearing this really long, old-fashioned, dark green cloak."

She pushed Jonny's arm off her when it occurred to her that they weren't together anymore and it was not his duty to comfort her now.

"Did she speak?" asked Hanssen. Jac nodded. "That will be why she bound you. She would have known you would have run away otherwise." Serena raised an eyebrow at him. "My father claimed to have been paralysed in his sleep once. That night, I watched my mother standing outside his bedroom window, talking to him through the open window," he explained. Jonny looked at him in surprise at his explanation, to which he answered, "It's a long story but the bottom line is after she died, my mother took to walking around the land surrounding the house."

Jac just stared at him for a moment. So the woman hadn't been trying to hurt her. Was speaking to her so important that she felt the need to hold her to the bed?

"How'd you reckon she died?" Jonny asked quietly into the silence.

"I think it might have been a riding accident," Jac answered. "She's in riding gear and everything. She thinks you two," Jac looked pointedly at Hanssen and Serena, and their joined hands, "are shagging."

At this, Hanssen and Serena severed physical contact and shared a nervous look, and Jac's eyes narrowed briefly. She didn't add the demand to tell Jonny and Hanssen of her endometriosis. It wasn't any of their business, after all.

Serena looked at her watch. "It's eleven o'clock now. We'd better get some sleep," she sighed; Jac saw her reasoning, considering they were to be dragged to the theme park in the morning, but didn't like it.

"You're having a laugh," Jac snapped. "I can't sleep in there!"

"I'll be with you," Serena replied. "I won't leave you alone this time. I promise." She stood up and outstretched her arm so Jac could take her hand. Reluctantly, she stood up and took her hand, realising Serena was the first woman who had acted in a maternal fashion towards her.

Jac took a deep, calming breath and opened the door. "Goodnight," Serena called back to the men.

"'Night," Jonny replied.

"Goodnight," Hanssen added; Jac heard the concern in both their voices. She closed the door on them and, with Serena, she walked carefully towards their room, working up the courage to back where she knew there was something unnatural about the room.

The door was in front of her too soon, and Serena opened it for her, guiding her in and towards the bed. "Right," Serena said. "I want no more of this, do you hear me?" she ordered into the darkness. "Let her sleep in peace."

A cold air fell on them, and Jac took that as an acknowledgement from the woman and her mother. Serena got into bed next to her and she felt slightly safer, but she was still acutely aware that they were by no means alone.

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to leave me a review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hello :) Sorry this took so long to post. Every time I went to finish writing it, someone distracted me. My aunt yesterday, Mum on Thursday (she insisted we stay in Dundee for six hours unnecessarily) and this morning it was my uncle replacing the bathroom sink. Don't ask.**

**Anyway, this is set in Codonas in Aberdeen. Best. Place. Ever.**

**Sarah x**

* * *

The wine had been a bad idea in itself. Combined with sugar, though, Serena was realising she was fast becoming Henrik Hanssen's worst nightmare.

She grinned at Jonny, who was sharing a pint of ice cream with Jac – she had agreed to break her sugar ban for just this trip – but while Jac's sugar ban was being broken mildly, Jonny was like a kid in a sweet shop. Literally. It was perhaps a blessing that he was driving back to Thainstone later on and he couldn't have any booze on top of it. She thought that Hanssen would have lost his mind if both she and Jonny had sugar and alcohol.

"Henrik," she whined, knowing her tone would grate on his nerves. "Come in the Haunted Mansion with me!"

"Don't you think we've seen quite enough of haunted buildings?" he raised an eyebrow, reminding her that she and Jac still had to sleep in that ghostly bedroom tonight. She didn't like that idea at all but at least she knew it was the last night and the chances of her an Jac coming to any real harm were slim to none.

"Oh, yeah," she replied. "Maybe not then. But I swear I am getting you on a ride, even if it kills me!" she added. Jac was sniggering next to Jonny.

"Good luck!" she said. "He's probably too tall anyway."

"I am still here, Miss Naylor," he reminded her icily. Jac just shook her head in amusement at him. Serena was starting to get annoyed; how the hell could one single man be so uptight? Had he had no childhood to return to when he set foot in a place like this? Even Jac was smiling and having fun. She had taken part in the bowling and gone on the looping rollercoaster with Serena and Jonny while Hanssen had waited below.

"Henrik, we're in a bloody theme park and you're still going to refer to us as Miss Naylor, Nurse Maconie and Ms. Campbell? Really?" she raised an eyebrow. "My name is _Serena_. S-E-R-E-N-A. _Serena_," she emphasised when he gave her a sharp look.

"Really? I could have sworn Michael Spence used the term 'Rena' whilst talking about you," Hanssen smirked. Serena's smile turned into a glower at his smirk and the news Michael was using her pet name to other people – she was going to murder that cocky American.

"Only my mother is allowed to call me that," she snapped. "And even she gets told to shut it if we're in public."

"Isn't that regarded as impolite, especially to say it to your mother?" retorted Hanssen. Serena resisted the overwhelming urge to slap him. A week ago she would have done. But now she didn't know what she wanted to do. Not really. Not when she had seen that other side to him she had never witnessed before.

"Here we go again," Jonny remarked. A sudden wicked streak ran through Serena as she grinned impishly at Jonny. She had just thought of the one thing sure to drive Henrik Hanssen up the wall.

"_Mamma __m__ia, here __I__ go again_," she sang, turning to face Hanssen, walking backwards once more. "_My my, how can I resist you?_"

"_Mamma mia, does it show again?_" Jonny joined in. "_My my, just how much I've missed you_," he glanced at Serena, who just beamed at him.

"Please be quiet," Hanssen begged, looking around as his companions started to catch the attention of passers-by. "You're making a show of yourselves." He eyed Jac balefully, but she was smiling too; evidently her sense of humour was in better shape than Hanssen's today.

"_Yes, I've been brokenhearted, blue since the day we parted_," they ignored him with evil grins. Serena had known singing ABBA songs would coax a reaction out of Hanssen. "_Why, why did I ever let you go? Mamma mia, now I really know, my my, I could never let you go_."

"Are you really going to lose what little dignity you have managed to retain in an effort to get on my nerves?" Hanssen quipped, raising an unamused eyebrow at them both.

Serena looked at Jonny, who shrugged, "Aye, why not?"

"Oh, Henrik, get a sense of humour," Serena moaned. The look he gave her was not one she had received from him before; it was a combination of annoyance and endearment. Jonny bounced back next to Jac, digging the spoon into the tub of ice cream.

"_You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen_," Jonny sang sweetly to Jac. Hanssen pinched the bridge of his nose, and it was then that Serena realised he was actually having to control his temper – she wondered whether he was taking this joke a little too personally. What she wouldn't give to see what lay beneath those calm waters.

"_Dancing Queen_," Serena joined him, looking up at Hanssen. "_Feel the beat from the tambourine, you can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life, see that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen_," they finished.

While Hanssen was only becoming more frustrated with what all four of them knew was light mockery of his nationality, Jac was openly grinning after Jonny had taken her hand and spun her under his arm. His arm was now around her waist and, to Serena's amazement, Jac hadn't pushed him away this time.

She guided them back to the bar for another glass of wine; if she was going to terrorise Henrik then she wanted a half-decent excuse in the morning, and "I was drunk" had worked ever since she was sixteen years old. They all piled around a table, Jac and Jonny on one side, Hanssen and Serena on the other.

It wasn't long before Serena found herself giggling uncontrollably at Hanssen, who resembled a grouchy school teacher with a pole stuck up his arse. The way he could just sit there so calm while the other three laughed and joked around was strange to her. She didn't know whether she found it funny or annoying.

"You do know it's not illegal to have fun?" Serena gave him an unimpressed look at his inability to loosen up a bit.

"Go on, have some of this," Jonny offered him some pink candyfloss. "It won't kill you."

"I've seen five-year-olds with ADHD handle sugar and E-numbers better than you," Hanssen snapped impatiently. "So no, I don't want any, thank you."

"Do we need sing more ABBA songs?" Jac unexpectedly threatened to partake in Jonny and Serena's teasing. "Because, you know, we know a whole wealth of Swedish pop songs," she grinned into her glass.

Henrik said nothing, only shooting Jac a glare they all knew would have little effect on the surprisingly rebellious redhead. "Oh, well, then," she smirked. "_If you change your mind, I'm the first in line_," she sang, receiving a look of warning from Hanssen.

"_Honey, I'm still free, take a chance on me_," Jonny added, his voice joining Jac's.

"_If you need me, let me know, gonna be around_," Serena joined in with the younger ones' fun. "_If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down, if you're all alone when the pretty birds have flown_," they all sang at Hanssen.

"Shut _up_," he groaned.

Serena just grinned and kept going, "_Honey, I'm still free, take a chance on me_."

Jac and Jonny started laughing at Hanssen's unamused expression, and Serena was trying to determine whether it was a smile or his temper he was trying so hard to force back. "_Gonna do my very best, and it ain't no lie_," all three sang together. "_If you put me to the test, if you let me try, take a chance on me, take a chance on me_."

She got up, pulling him up by the hand. He yanked it free of her grasp while Jac and Jonny looked on in amusement. It didn't escape Serena's notice that they were sitting much closer together than they had been ten minutes ago.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped. He appeared a little spooked by her touch.

"_We_," she said assertively, "are going to play on the dodgems."

"_I_ am doing nothing of the sort," he replied, bringing himself to his full height; he towered over her. "And anyway, you've had too much to drink."

"Rubbish," she scoffed. She felt perfectly fine. She had been eating all the time she had been drinking; he would have known about it if she was as drunk as he was trying to make out. She would have been crying in the toilets about how lonely her life was, as much as she hated to admit it to herself. That was what being properly, full-out drunk did to her.

Jonny slipped his arm around Jac's shoulders and whispered something in her ear. She grinned and nodded her head.

"I am going to make you have fun, Henrik," she asserted to him; she was quickly becoming frustrated with the tension between them.

"I don't need to have fun," he answered back. Serena could tell his patience was wearing dangerously thin but she didn't care. It was high time he got to know what she thought of his attitude to life. "I'm perfectly fine watching you, Miss Naylor and Nurse Maconie having fun."

"Wanna bet?"

"Not particularly, no," he replied calmly. She threw her hands in the air in frustration. Perhaps had she not been drinking her temper would have been more elastic but he was really getting on her nerves now.

She glanced around and saw that people were watching their argument with interest and amusement. "You are such a moron!" she accused, not even caring that people were watching now. "You're a stupid, proud man with no inner child and no sense of what a good time is!"

"At least I'm not like you. You are a forty-odd-year-old woman who thinks she's still fourteen," he retorted with a hurtful shouting tone to his voice as it rose in volume.

"At least I know how to have fun," she argued back. "At least I don't go home to an empty house. At least I have friends!" she shouted at him, only realising now how utterly childish she sounded.

"The difference between us, Ms. Campbell," he said, "is that I am an adult. You still are, and probably always will be, a child."

The anger bubbling inside her was morphing into something she could not quite place and when she answered him, she used words harsher than she had wanted them to be. "Better to have the heart of a child than a heart of stone!" she yelled at him.

The whole bar fell silent as Hanssen froze for the shortest moment. He then turned and walked away, heading outside. Serena sat down and put her head in her hands. Jonny opened his mouth to speak, still huddled up with Jac, but was instantly shot down. "Not a bloody word, Maconie."

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I was meant to finish and upload this yesterday but, you know, broadband issues. This chapter has a lot of Janny fluffiness. Also, Jac isn't pregnant in this but it's just after Tara's death. Well, she is pregnant, but she just doesn't know it yet, I guess. **

**Thanks, as always, for all the brilliant reviews! I'm glad you all enjoy it so much :)**

**Sarah x**

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Jonny sighed to himself as he took another bite of his candyfloss. "I wouldn't worry about it," he reassured Serena. He never thought he would see the day he would have to reassure Serena Campbell, the Iron Lady of Holby. "He's just being a crabbit old twat and you're being an over-excited bairn 'cause you've been on the drink and the sugar," he stated bluntly, waiting for the slap it was sure to earn him. To his surprise, the only blow he received was one from Jac's elbow into his ribs.

"Yes, thank you, Jonny," Serena snapped. "I do realise this."

"That, and he clearly wants you to jump his bones," Jac added. Jonny choked on his cola, and Jac thumped his back until it stopped. "What?!" Jac demanded at the sight of Serena's affronted expression. "You can see it a mile off. He's lonely, and you're the only one I've seen actually make an effort to understand him. More than can be said for the rest of us. And anyway, if I was ten, twelve years older..." she shrugged.

"Oi!" Jonny said. "Was I not good enough for Her Royal Highness?!" he half-shouted jokingly.

"You're more than I deserved," Jac admitted. He was a bit taken aback; he'd never heard her say anything like that to him. Perhaps she wasn't the cold, arrogant person she claimed to be. Admittedly she probably was, but just not on the extreme level she constantly displayed.

"That's the other thing," Serena added. "He's a good few years older than I am."

"And?" Jonny raised an eyebrow. "I'm younger than Jac and we were together."

"Ugh," Jac groaned. "Don't remind me!"

He gave her an annoyed look before turning to reassure their colleague,"Age, Serena, is nothing more than a number."

Serena said nothing more but took a large swig of wine. "If you think we're letting you drown your sorrows while the big man sits on a bench somewhere sulking with a bottle of Scotch like some pathetic hobo, you can bloody well think again," Jac declared. Well. The drink had obviously brought Jac out of her shell then.

That was that then. "Tell you what," Jonny reasoned. "Since both you and Hanssen didn't want a shot on them, Jac and I will have a go on the waltzers and you go and find Hanssen. Then you can meet us at the dodgems and we'll have a shot on them and hope you three aren't prosecuted for drink driving," he added with a cheeky grin.

Jac raised an unimpressed red eyebrow at him but it didn't fool Jonny; he knew her well enough to know there were many things she wanted to do here, even if she decided they were childish.

They all stood up as Serena glared at both of them before walking away in the direction that Hanssen had stormed off in. Jonny knew she didn't like having her hand forced by them but she didn't realise that he knew more than she thought he did.

"How did you know?" Jac asked curiously. "Hanssen and Campbell. How did you know I was right?"

As they walked towards the waltzers, Jonny admitted, "Before you came in our room last night, Hanssen was talking to her. He was explaining to her about his mum but I had to plead ignorance so he didn't know I was listening. They thought I was asleep but I was watching them. If I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't have believed it."

"Eavesdropping again, Maconie?" Jac demanded.

"Mmm," he agreed. "Anyways. When she reached out and took his hand...I've just never seen either of them look like that before," he explained, recalling the softness in both their dark, normally steely, eyes.

Jac remained silent while Jonny led her onto a cup on the waltzer. "The girl," she said as they waited for it to start spinning. "The girl in our room. She thought they were married."

"Well," Jonny sighed."You've got to admit it. If you look at the lot of us, right, they're the two long-divorced parents at the top of the pecking order, trying to keep all us wee delinquents in line while they realise they're kidding themselves every time they bad mouth one another to the kids."

"Wow," Jac nodded. "That was actually quite intelligent. For you," she amended with a sarcastic smirk. Just then, the world around them started spinning slowly, and Jonny shut his eyes tight for a moment, trying not to think of how dizzy he would feel in a few minutes. "Oh, don't be a cry baby."

"I'm not," he replied, his eyes opened up once more. "I'm fine." There was a sudden jolt as the machine moved faster and in the other direction; Jac let out a quiet squeal as she was forced into his side. "Don't be a cry baby!" he shouted over the thumping music, knowing it was going to annoy her.

When they stepped off, neither could walk in a straight line; the brightly coloured park spun around Jonny, and he realised he was holding onto Jac as she was him. Together they walked away from the machine and the music, though Jonny sincerely doubted they id so in a straight line.

She pulled them over to a wall and groaned, "I think I'm gonna puke."

"Lightweight," he accused teasingly. She glared at him, but something softened in her eyes. She leaned into him and kissed him fiercely. He immediately kissed her back, his hands wandering to her waist. "What was that for?" he asked breathlessly when she pulled back.

"Being there," she replied. "Answering the door to me. Hugging me. Being the best man I've ever had. Being the best thing I've ever thrown away." He gave her a searching look, wondering what was bringing this on. "Look. The...girl. The...the..."

"Ghost?" he supplied, knowing she didn't want to use the word when she could barely believe she was being haunted by one. He knew Jac, ever the cynic, was struggling to accept the existence of the supernatural even when she had experienced it at such close proximity herself.

She nodded and continued, "She says I need to tell you. You remember the day we broke up? The row we had outside theatre?" she asked him. He nodded, remembering how they had bother been so out of order in so many ways, and how they had said so many things they didn't really mean. "I was in a rough place. I had a gynae referral. _Me_. The woman who is never, ever ill, was referred to gynae. And that morning, I was diagnosed with endometriosis."

"Jac-" he tried to say, but she held up a hand to stop him and he realised she wanted all of it out in a oner.

"I was tired. I was in pain. I was trying to pretend to you and Hanssen and everyone else that I wasn't ill and everything was fine. And then when you said that to me, that any child I had would be evil, it all hit home. It was real. And I snapped," she explained. "And for that, I am so, so sorry, Jonny. I shouldn't have hit you. I shouldn't have went for the jugular in the first place."

"Alright," he accepted her apology. He went on to give her an answer, one he didn't know how she was going to take to. "I won't apologise for defending Tara. Especially now we know why she slipped up in the first place." She nodded acceptingly, glancing at the floor for a moment. "But I was out of line to say the things I did. When I look back on it, I understand why you hit me. I understand that saying your child would be the anti-Christ touched a nerve. So, I'm sorry. OK?" he finished.

He watched her take his acceptance in. "You do realise I probably can't have kids?" she confessed. "You just wanted them so much and then when I realised I couldn't give you them it was the frogspawn icing on the cake full of maggots that is my life," she explained bitterly.

"Yeah, and there are other ways," he reminded her. He brushed her hair from her face, and kissed her hair lightly. She gave a tiny smile; it made him wonder what really went on in the woman's head. Her logic was so twisted and warped by what seemed to be fear and self-doubt that it made him wonder what made her like that. _Who_ made her like that.

He pulled her into his arms, her head on his chest, and hugged her tight just as he had done last night. He smiled, inhaling the smell of her hair. "How do you know Hanssen hasn't driven back to Thainstone?" she asked into his chest. He let her go and put his hand in his pocket briefly; he dangled the car keys in front of her face and she smiled. "Do you think they've killed each other yet?"

"Nah," he grinned, throwing his arm around her shoulders as they headed towards Hanssen and Serena had disappeared to. "They'd miss each other too much if they did that."

"You know," Jac began. "Serena isn't as awful as everyone says. She's been really good to me these past couple of days. Even made Hanssen stop at the chemist for me to get painkillers."

"Hanssen's not so bad either," Jonny admitted. He had been dreading spending three nights with his boss, but, actually, the man wasn't half bad. He had a sense of humour, Jonny had soon discovered when he coaxed him out of his box with a combination of chocolate and alcohol on the first night. "Doesn't like my bachelor way of living, mind."

Jac laughed loudly, her head resting against his shoulder. "You mean he doesn't like tidying up after a slob?" she corrected him.

"Pretty much," he allowed. "They've got an undeserved reputation."

"Oh, no," Jac contradicted. "They deserve their reputations. They just also deserve to have some people see the good in them and not just run in the opposite direction all the time."

He went into a shop and bought two lollipops, handing Jac the pink one and taking the blue one for himself. "Blue food colouring," Jac noted. "Brilliant idea. Because E-numbers haven't got us in _any_ bother today whatsoever," she sarcastically smirked, and Jonny recalled the annoyance in Hanssen's face as he and Serena had taunted him with ABBA songs.

Jonny just grinned and squeezed her in tight as they wandered towards the dodgems, wondering if Hanssen, Serena or both would meet them there.

* * *

**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: First...THREE MORE SLEEPS. Second, sorry this took a wee whilie to update. And thirdly, thank you very much for all your lovely reviews!**

**Sarah x**

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Serena wandered around in search of Hanssen. Groaning, she pulled out her phone and tried to phone him. It was with very little surprise to her that he let it ring out to voicemail. He most definitely was pissed off with her then; last time he did that, he was in Sweden and deeply offended by her behaviour.

She sighed and thought where he could possibly go. Surely he wouldn't have tried to walk back to Thainstone? He didn't know the bus routes so that was out of the question, and Jonny had the keys to the car, as far as she was aware.

So he was somewhere around here.

She scanned the area and sniggered when she spotted him with a woman, looking severely uncomfortable. It gave her some satisfaction to see he was in a worse predicament now than when he stormed away from her. He looked mortified as the pretty blonde inched closer to him; Serena was shocked to find herself really quite jealous that there was a woman quite clearly trying to flirt with him.

She decided to come to his aid so she walked up with a smile and said, "You coming, sweetheart? The kids will be at the dodgems by now, and little Jac wants to have a go on it with her daddy," she added with a quick kiss to his lips to make the woman think they were married. She quickly realised it was a mistake – she felt him ever so subtly return it and a rush of heat soared through her.

"Of course, darling," he smiled falsely, taking her outstretched hand. "What are you playing at?" he hissed as she guided him away.

"You looked like you wanted the ground to swallow you up," she grinned. They severed contact when they were out of the blonde's line of sight. "No need to thank me."

"For what? Slinging insults at me?" he challenged as they went inside.

"Need I remind you that you were just as nasty as I was?" she retorted.

"There's a fine line between love and hate, as they say," he sighed.

Serena shook her head and replied, "No, actually, there's the Great Wall of China with armed guards on either side and spears sticking out of the top."

He gave a soft laugh. "Hence why very few dare to cross it," he pointed out. "I shouldn't have said the things I did. I'm sorry."

"Me too. Sorry," she said. "I..." she hesitated. She knew why she was so horrible to him; she'd tried being nice to a man before. She'd married him. And then divorced him. She didn't want to go through all that again.

"Do you have something to add?"

She sighed and stopped walking, turning to face him. "I don't want you to think you can walk all over me," she admitted. "My husband did that and I hated it. It made me feel weak, and I don't want you to see me as anything other than strong."

He took an obviously tentative step towards her. "So you resolve to insult me?" She grudgingly nodded. "Last night, I saw your other side," he told her. "I saw someone who actually cared about Jac. About Jonny. And, for whatever reason, you cared about _me_ last night. I didn't expect that and it threw me slightly."

"First names now, is it?" she smiled, recalling their disagreement about being so formal. He glared at her for avoiding the point. "I know I care about them," she admitted. "Jonny is the most irritating man on the planet and still he's easier to endure than my daughter. At least he has a sense of humour. Jac pretends she hasn't got a heart, but she does – it's just broken. And you..."

"Go on. Speak freely," he encouraged her.

"You let everyone think you don't know how to feel anything, but you feel _everything_," she tried to explain. "I know that now. You're just so bloody sarcastic and self-disciplined that you come across as coldhearted. But you're not. You're an emotional person. You just don't let it show. And for some reason it...attracts me to you. It makes me want to force some kind of emotion out of you. Maybe that's what's making me act like such a bitch to you."

He smiled down on her. She was slightly shocked when he put his hand on her neck, his thumb stroking her cheekbone lightly. She had honestly expected him to dismiss her explanation as a get-out clause, but he seemed genuinely touched by her words. He leaned down towards her until their faces were barely an inch apart. "Kiss me," she whispered when he hesitated. He obeyed, kissing her lightly as that same heat rushed through her body. It was a warmth she hadn't felt in a long, long time.

She put an arm gently around his neck and the other around his waist and pulled him closer, deepening their kiss. "We just crossed the Great Wall of China and survived," she grinned when they broke apart. She felt a little dizzy, but she didn't want him to know the effect he'd just had on her.

"For now," he amended.

"Is that us friends again?" she checked. His fingers sorted her hair lightly and he just smiled to himself in answer to her question. "I'll take that as a 'yes,'" she smiled, heading towards the dodgems with him. "They thought we were married," she admitted.

"What?" he asked, sounding very confused.

"The...ghosts," she clarified. "They were talking about us. They thought we were married to start with, until you gave me a good looking over when I was in that towel." She waited for him to deny it but he didn't. "And as for the other two...I'm hoping they've seen sense. Jonny is perfect for Jac and she knows it. She's just so bloody stubborn!"

"You're one to talk," he reminded her.

When they reached the dodgems, Jac and Jonny were standing together, deep in conversation. "Friends?" Jac asked cautiously as the approached. Serena nodded and noticed Jonny repressing a grin. Were they really _that_ obvious?

"Come on, then," Jonny ordered them towards the dodgem area. Hanssen stood still and Serena – who had been expecting him to be stubborn about it – grabbed his hand.

"If you don't cooperate," she threatened, turning to face him. "I will embarrass you so much you'll wish you'd just went quietly." He gave her a challenging stare, daring her to do her worst, so when Jac and Jonny's backs were turned, she reached up and rested a hand on the back of his neck playfully.

"You wouldn't," he informed her. She glanced at Jac and Jonny, making her intentions clear as they chatted to the attendant.

"I would," she said. "You _know_ I would."

"Fine. You win. If it stops you opening a can of worms then I'll play on the silly little cars with you," he succumbed. She dropped her hand with a grin, her fingers brushing his chest as she did so. "That is if my legs will fit in."

* * *

Serena and Jac fell into the hotel room laughing like schoolgirls. "He got stuck," Jac cried with laughter for what must have been the tenth time since leaving Aberdeen.

"I know!" Serena exclaimed, unable to stop laughing at the memory of Henrik Hanssen stuck in a dodgem car because his legs were too long. He, of course, had warned her. She hadn't listened. "I had to blackmail him to do it in the first place!" she admitted. "I threatened to kiss him if he didn't."

Jac looked at her in shock. "He can't honestly find you that repulsive," she asserted. Serena flashed a wicked smile at her before sitting down on the bed and pulling out her phone to check her emails. It was as expected; stupid junk mail was the only thing she found in the absence of Hanssen's orders. Oh, and she noticed a probably drunken email from Michael Spence.

She sighed and lay back for a few minutes. "Spill," Jac ordered her, lying down next to her. Serena's head whipped around to see the redhead's evil grin. "He was undressing you with his eyes," she giggled. Serena had never seen Jac in a fit of laughter but she found she was rather enjoying seeing the happy Jac Naylor.

"What happened with you and Maconie?" Serena retorted, having seen the change in atmosphere between the two upon her return. "You told him, didn't you?" Jac nodded. "And what did he have to say about it?"

"He was surprisingly OK with it," Jac admitted.

"Knew it. That's you two back together then?" Serena asked.

"Looks like it."

"Good."

"You and the Swede?" Jac persisted. "Ha. You thought I'd given that up!" she nudged Serena in an unusually playful manner. "Come on."

"We...made up," Serena allowed. She didn't want to tell Jac the whole truth. One kiss did not mean anything where Hanssen was concerned. It had been a moment of attraction, nothing more or less. She would not allow this to change anything; they were the same fatally incompatible people. It would end in tears.

"Good," Jac smiled. "I don't like it when you argue," she confessed, sounding very much like a child when she said it. "I never know how it'll end."

"We'd better go for dinner," Serena sighed, avoiding the subject yet again.

* * *

Jonny entered the hotel room trying to control his laughter; he, along with Jac and Serena, had completely taken the piss out of Hanssen for getting stuck in the dodgem car. "I'm glad to see you have laughed yourself silent," the Swede grumbled.

"I'm sorry," Jonny answered. He had been wary of Hanssen from the second he had discovered they were to share a room, but he saw now that the man was harmless. That didn't mean, though, he had the balls to fess up and say he listened to Hanssen's conversation with Serena last night. He wasn't a moron.

"It's good to see Miss Naylor actually laugh though," Hanssen unexpectedly admitted. "It's a bit of a rarity."

"Ain't it just?" Jonny grinned.

"I have a feeling you may be the source of a good bit of her happiness."

Jonny was thrown. He didn't know what to say. He had never known – with the exception of Ollie and Tara's issues – the boss to have a view on his employees' personal lives. "Um..." Jonny tried to speak but was lost for words.

"As long as you're both happy, where does the problem lie?" Hanssen continued.

"Jac is...volatile," Jonny described Jac's insane temperament. "You never know what she's gonna say or do."

"I noticed. But she's also a very fragile person."

Jonny sat on his bed facing Hanssen, who had already sat down. "What about you and Ms. Campbell?" he dared to enquire, deciding that Hanssen had no right to ask him about Jac and not allow any questions about him and Serena. When he didn't answer, Jonny clapped his hands and laughed. "I knew it!"

"You knew what?"

"You snogged her, didn't you?" he said. Hanssen said nothing but he didn't need to. Jonny could see from the coy look on his face what happened when Serena finally found him. Jonny's face broke into a wide smile and he sang cheerfully, "Henrik and Serena up a tree, K-I-S-S-"

"One more letter, Jonny, and I will cut your tongue out," Hanssen threatened, causing Jonny to fall silent with a wide grin, wondering what Jac had got out of Serena.

* * *

**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/****N: Hey, my friends! :) Sorry this took ages to upload. I've rewritten it three times and this is the best version so I posted this one. Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews!**

**Sarah x**

* * *

After dinner, Jac sighed and sat down on the bed. She was exhausted after a day of winding Hanssen up, convincing Serena to go after him and telling Jonny some truths she hated to admit to. She wanted to just curl up and go to sleep. She did, however, doubt her little dead friend would allow it.

"What are you thinking about?" she heard Serena ask. She turned to find the woman holding her phone at arm's length, apparently hoping she would find a decent signal. "You've not said very much since we went down to dinner."

"Just waiting for them to show their faces. Well, actually, I've not seen the mother. Only heard her," she explained. She recalled the girl's pale face with a chill. She was beautiful in the extreme but chilling nonetheless. After all, what was more twisted than speaking to the dead? "They bound me last night," she recounted once more, calm enough to tell the tale.

"How'd they manage that?" Serena asked, an almost childlike curiosity. It never failed to amuse Jac that, despite her stern and harsh exterior, Serena was a bizarre combination of a woman and a child.

"Dunno," Jac replied. "It was just like they were pinning me down. I wasn't paralysed. Without the pressure on my body I could have moved."

"I see," Serena unconvincingly agreed, making Jac grin to herself. She was surprised and grateful that, during this trip, that she had found a friend in Serena Campbell. From talking to her through the night to forcing Hanssen to stop at a pharmacy, she had been more caring than accommodating than Jac had ever expected from her.

Exhausted, they soon turned the lights out, and Jac was anxiously awaiting the reappearance of the ghosts. It was certain to happen.

"What happened with Hanssen?" Jac tried to get it out of Serena yet again. She had been trying all night to get her to spit it out but the woman was a nightmare. She wouldn't speak of it. The two clearly had settled their differences, but how well was anyone's guess.

"I told you," Serena groaned impatiently into the darkness. "We talked and sorted it out."

"Tell me."

"There's nothing to tell!"

"There is!" Jac shouted triumphantly. The impatient tone to Serena's voice always meant she was either avoiding the issue or was hiding something.

"There isn't!"

"Did you kiss him, by any chance?" she dared to hazard a guess.

"No," Serena said, her voice shaking with nerves. "_He_ kissed _me_," she admitted.

"He did _what_?!" Jac was gobsmacked. If anything had happened, she would never have guessed Hanssen the one to initiate it; the man was barely capable of touching other people, never mind kissing them. And especially Serena – she irritated him. There was no other way to describe the outward effect she had on him.

"He kissed me," Serena repeated. "I know. I'm as shocked as you are."

"Believe me, you're not," Jac retorted, barely able to believe that Henrik Hanssen had made a move on Serena. "Although I should've seen it coming. Nobody winds each other up like you two do if there's nothing underneath."

"Yeah, well, I've had enough falling for tall, dark men for one day," Serena replied sleepily. "Let's just forget it for now, hmm?"

"For now," allowed Jac; she fully intended to continue the interrogation when Serena was fully conscious and could properly answer the questions. She had seen the softer side of Hanssen during their time in Sweden but never thought he would have shown it back here, where it could come back to bite him. Admittedly, she could understand it, but even she knew that kind of behaviour wasn't always healthy.

She started to drift to sleep far happier than she had been this time last night. It was astounding the difference twenty-four hours could make. She was starting to wonder about Hanssen...the sides she had seen to him this weeks were nothing short of miraculous. He had opened up about his disastrous childhood, kissed Serena Campbell and even – albeit after one hell of a fight – had fun in an amusement park. He was making progress, and it was about time too.

She woke with a startle and reached for her phone to see what time it was. Half past eleven. She looked around, not entirely surprised to see the blonde girl sitting in the chair. She wasn't frightened this time. Being frightened wouldn't make her go away and it was clear, even when they restrained her, neither the girl nor her mother wanted to hurt Jac.

"What do you want now?" she sighed, leaning up on her elbow to see past Serena's sleeping body.

"You told him," she stated with a small smile. Jac raised an eyebrow at her, so she added, "I hear every conversation held in this room."

"Yes, I told him," Jac answered cautiously.

"And he still loves you," the girl said. She stood up and walked around to the end of the bed. "The Campbell woman also achieved something today."

"Her name is Serena," Jac said yet again.

"I apologise," she replied gently with a light nod of her head. "Serena."

Upon hearing her name, Serena stirred. "What's wrong, darling?" she moaned, her guard non-existent in her drowsiness. "Hmm? Jac?" She was clearly starting to wake up when she seemed to remember she was in a room with Jac, and not her daughter. "Bloody hell!" she exclaimed when she sat up and saw the girl standing at the end of the bed.

"Good evening to you too," the girl smiled. She had a beautiful smile, her face framed by curly blonde hair. "Do not be alarmed. I wish you no harm. I am merely intrigued."

"By what?!" Serena demanded, sitting up straight now.

"You and Jac," she stated happily. "You both have many personae. Mother. Child. Commander. Lover. It is wonderful to watch. I see many people pass through and have never encountered two people as complex as you."

Jac gave a laugh. "You think _we're_ complex? You should see Hanssen. The man makes complex look simple," she chuckled, trying to make a nervous Serena more comfortable.

"Hanssen? Is he the tall Swedish man who walked in on you miscalling him, Serena?" she asked Serena directly. "The one who kissed you today?"

"Yes," she replied rigidly.

"I thought, originally, that you were married," the girl explained.

"I know," Serena acknowledged. The girl pulled her cloak around her chest and her golden hair around one shoulder. "I remember you saying."

"You talk about him like a husband you have been married to so long he drives you demented," she informed Serena with a small smile. "I have only encountered him once but I sense he is a troubled man. He seems to have starved himself of love and affection."

Serena laughed. "And you can tell this by seeing him once?"

"I've been dead a long time, Serena. It's given me a long time to refine it as a skill. I have become accustomed to watching people. I can tell many things about him from that single encounter."

"Like what?" Jac asked curiously, wondering whether she had managed to get anywhere with the puzzle of a man.

"He is a proud man. Perhaps too proud. He does not know what it is to be loved, or to love, and so has turned cold to the world," she explained. "What I find most worrisome is the self-loathing in his eyes. His arrogance is only a disguise for a hatred he has developed for himself." She smiled sadly and added, "He is a damaged man who needs someone to love him."

"Well," Serena huffed. "If you were still alive, you'd make a good psychologist."

"If you don't mind me asking, how _did_ you die?" Jac added, her curiosity getting the better of her. She was still not entirely convinced she was speaking with a dead person.

"I was gravely injured in a horse riding accident," she answered. "They brought me to this room, where I later died. I do not know why my spirit still lingers in this room. The afterlife is very dull when you are confined to one room," she complained.

"You can't leave this room?" Serena asked. Jac found it difficult to comprehend the idea that this young woman had not left this room in centuries. That was enough to drive anyone mad.

"No. I tried once but I could not leave."

"So you don't get much fun then," Jac said. The girl shook her head. "Well, how about we give you a laugh, eh? Would you like to meet Hanssen and Jonny?"

"I will not talk to them," she warned. "I do not usually talk to guests. I only speak to you because I feel you are accepting of me."

"Of course. Just to see their expressions will be fun for you," Serena smiled. Jac picked up her phone and dialled Jonny's number.

"What's up?" he asked drowsily. "Everything OK?"

"Do you have my chocolate in your rucksack?" Jac asked innocently.

"Yeah, think so."

"Can you bring it to our room?" she asked, trying to refrain from sniggering at his impatience.

"What did your last slave die of?!" he demanded, but she heard him get out of bed.

"They didn't bring my chocolate so I murdered them," she joked, keeping her voice deadpan. "And bring Hanssen. Serena's got something for him."

"What?"

"Just do it," she rolled her eyes. She hung up the phone before he could argue; she knew him well enough to know he would pander to her. He always did.

The girl smiled and turned around, facing the door, waiting for Jonny and Hanssen. "Will it be enough for me to just stand here?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," Serena answered. Jac heard the laugh in her voice, and realised just how bizarre this situation. They were playing a joke on the men with the help of a ghost. A _ghost_. Life just got weirder and weirder, didn't it?

The door opened and shut, Jonny complaining to Hanssen, "So much for the woman who doesn't do fat, carbs and sug-" before stopping and exclaiming, "Fucking _hell_!" and jumping behind Hanssen for cover. Hanssen was shocked, and took a step back with a look of fright, but did not swear and hide like Jonny had done.

The girl vanished and Serena turned the light on and looked around at Jac. They burst out laughing at them. "Yes," Hanssen grumbled. "Hilarious. I take it she was the ghost."

"Yep," Jac replied, taking the bar of chocolate Jonny handed her. "Want a bit?" she offered happily. She felt elated. Light. This trip had allowed her to have fun and cut loose, though probably at others' expense. She had, after all, help torment Hanssen earlier by singing ABBA and laughing at him from Aberdeen to Thainstone. But she had enjoyed herself nonetheless.

"Jac said you have something for me, or was that just a guise to get me here to frighten me?" he demanded, obviously having no more patience for their antics when the time was fast approaching midnight and he had to drive all the way home in the morning.

"What do you think?" she answered with a giggle.

"I'll remember this," he warned, a dangerous and mischievous flash in his eyes.

"And you!" Jac half-shouted. "I thought you weren't scared of dead people, Maconie?! I thought Granny told you they're all lovely!"

Sheepishly he replied, "That doesn't make it any less scary when you see one standing in front of you with no warning!" His defensiveness dissolved Jac and Serena into fits of laughter; soon they were lying down giggling into their pillows as they attempted to curb the amusement.

"If that is all, can we go back to bed now?" asked Hanssen. They nodded, not trusting themselves to speak. Jonny, now standing next to Jac, leaned down and kissed her goodnight before making his way to the door.

"Goodnight," she smiled up at him.

"Actually, Henrik, I do have something for you!" Serena called after him before he got very far down the hall. Jac could just see him rolling his eyes as he sighed and turned around, stalking tiredly and grouchily back into the room. "Come here," she ordered him. He obeyed and Jac watched in amazement as he allowed Serena to pull him down by the arm. She kissed him lightly and smiled, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he said, looking quite surprised by Serena's actions.

When they left and Serena turned the lights out, Jac said, "What on Earth did you do that for? He looked like he didn't know what to do!"

Serena paused and said, "She said he's starved of affection. Maybe it's high time someone bothered to show him some."

* * *

**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hiya! This is a ridiculous and totally unacceptable time to be updating, so sorry! This is a bit of an odd chaper - not sure if I like it - but the following chapters will involve football, hand-feeding, translation, navigational issues...it'll be fun ;) Thanks again to all my lovely readers and reviewers :)**

**Sarah x**

* * *

Serena lay next to Jac, unable to sleep. Something was bugging her, keeping her awake, but she wasn't entirely sure what it was. Their laughing fit had receded about an hour ago – it was almost two in the morning – but she was restless still. She was careful not to move too much in case she alerted Jac to this fact.

"Are you awake?" she heard Jac ask. Serena did not respond, and kept her eyes closed. She didn't want to make it more difficult for her to sleep. "That's a 'no' then," she sighed.

"I am," a voice replied. The ghost.

"You're dead," Jac stated. "So technically you're not." A light, sweet laugh came from past Jac to Serena's side. "I imagine you don't get to talk to anyone much, apart from your mother."

"My mother is good company," the ghost allowed. "Well, she is good company until the point I become tiresome of her interference," she added. "She is very prying. It can get on one's nerves after a century or so," she joked wryly.

Serena smiled to herself. "I've got colleagues like that and it only takes about thirty seconds for them to get on my nerves most of the time," Jac replied.

"Does Serena get on your nerves?" the ghost asked interestedly; Serena had to resist the urge to admit she was awake and butt in. "She seems a strange person. She emanates aggression. Jonny seems terrified by her."

Jac laughed quietly and answered, "Serena's aggressive when she needs to be, and she likes to watch Jonny squirm. We all like to watch Jonny squirm, actually. But no. She doesn't really get on my nerves."

"So she is sadistic?"

"That's a bit harsh, but maybe just a little bit," said Jac, and Serena heard the smile in her voice as she said it. "You should have seen her and Hanssen going at it at Codona's. Calling each other for every name under the sun. And then snogged the faces off each other. God only knows how her daughter will take to _that_."

"Oh, yes, she has a child," the ghost said, sounding like she had only just remembered. "Is the child well-behaved?"

"I have _no_ idea," Jac replied. This was surreal. Was Serena awake or was this some elaborate dream her mind had conjured up to make sense of this bizarre trip she had taken with seemingly even more bizarre colleagues?

"What about the girl's father?"

"You're nosy, aren't you?!" exclaimed Jac in an annoyed whisper. Regardless, she answered, "Serena's divorced. That's all I know," rather firmly, making it clear it was the end of the matter. "Anyway, a woman doesn't need a man to raise her child properly."

"So she is a good mother?" asked the ghost. This was getting a little too personal for Serena's liking, but she didn't dare say a word and alert Jac to the fact she had lied earlier and feigned sleep.

"I've only heard her on the phone to Eleanor."

"She seems a good mother," the dead girl said decisively. "She lets her stay at home alone for periods of time, which demonstrates a trust between them. From their conversations, she seems strict but fairly patient with the girl's immaturity. She appears to care very much but refuses to smother her child. She seems to give her daughter freedom as her birthright, and lets her slam up against her own walls in the knowledge she would both reprimand her and help her to repair the damage, while continuing to love her regardless."

The answer floored Serena; she had never seen herself as that kind of parent. She had only seen herself as too strict and too condescending, and perhaps that was why Eleanor took so much pleasure in rebelling against her. Maybe she wasn't that kind of parent. She did all those things just described, but never perceived them the way this outsider could from listening in on only a few conversations.

"What kind of mother do you think you will be?" the girl asked Jac, who remained silent.

"I don't have to worry about that," Jac sighed heavily. "The chances of me getting pregnant are slim to none."

"Strange," the ghost commented quietly.

"What is?" Jac demanded; she sounded rather worried and affronted now.

"You have the glow only a pregnant woman exudes," the girl explained happily.

Jac's tone was dangerously impatient when she retorted, "Excuse me?!"

"I am not entirely sure," the ghost backtracked cautiously, obviously realising she had said too much. "But I _think_ you may be pregnant. With time comes the ability to read people, and that includes physically and biologically, as well as emotionally."

"You are kidding."

"I am not," she replied. "I am being deadly serious."

"I'm probably just glowing with pain," Jac snorted dismissively. Serena was leaning towards agreeing with Jac – merely as a doctor – but she was starting to gain a healthy respect for the powers of the supernatural. She had coming here sneering at the very thought, but it was proven to her now that Hanssen was right: some things simply could not be explained by the laws of the natural world.

"I will let you sleep on it," the girl laughed sweetly. "Goodnight, Jac."

"Goodnight," Jac replied before the room fell silent. Serena felt Jac turn over and huff; she knew the younger woman well enough to know that, despite her arrogant and almost mocking dismissal of the idea, she was trying to work out if it was at all possible that the ghost was right. It was eating at Jac now, and Serena knew it. If she thought she would have got off with it, her maternal instinct would have been to 'wake up' and gave her a cuddle.

Serena herself was like Jac in the sense she wasn't the stereotypical emotional woman. She wouldn't have gotten very far if that had been the case. But she was aware to the emotions of others and had an instinct to ease their pain where she could.

With a small smile to herself, she groaned and rolled over to face Jac, slinging an arm seemingly unconsciously over her waist in a comfort Jac would probably never realise was deliberate. She was mildly surprised when Jac did not wriggle free or throw her arm away; instead she sighed and allowed herself to relax and fall asleep.

* * *

Jonny stood brushing his teeth while checking the football fixtures on his tablet. It was Saturday – SPL galore. As he spat his toothpaste out, he noticed Hibs were playing Dundee United at Tannadice that afternoon. He felt a pang of self-pity for a moment; he'd not been to a Hibs game all season. He almost guilty for missing so many games.

It was only then that he realised there was perhaps a way he could get to see it: he had leverage over the driver.

He cheerily returned to the bedroom, happy in the knowledge that his morning glee was getting on Hanssen's nerves. Henrik Hanssen, it transpired, was even quieter and darker in the morning than he was at night. Actually, that was a lie. The man was surprisingly good company when he wanted to be.

"You know how it would be a _really_ bad idea for everyone at home to find out about you and Ms. Campbell?" he asked, trying not to make his plans obvious.

"Yes," Hanssen said curtly, looking up from his packing in suspicion of what was coming next.

"And you know how we're gonna go down through Angus, through Dundee city centre, over the Tay Bridge and through Fife to get home?"

"Not the only route home but, yes, the one I have chosen," he answered, coming to loom over Jonny in a slightly intimidating manner. It didn't faze him, though, and he kept in mind he could either blackmail him or simply irritate him until he said yes.

"And you know how Hibs are playing Dundee United later today?" Jonny continued, unable to conceal the grin he knew was spreading across his face as a look of realisation and annoyance crossed Hanssen's.

"If I didn't know you better, I'd say that was an attempt at blackmail," Henrik replied dryly.

"Aw, please?" Jonny moaned. "_Pretty_ please?!" He knew he sounded childish but he couldn't miss the opportunity, especially since it was on the way home. It was only a couple more hours; what was the harm in it? It wasn't like he was asking to go home via Shetland or anything! Dundee lay on their route home anyway.

"Jonny, a football game means at least two hours in Dundee," Hanssen reasoned. "And aside from that, I only know how to come off the A92 and over the bridge. I don't have the first clue where the football stadiums are!"

"I could show you!" Jonny quickly insisted. "It's easy to get to Tannadice from the town. You could even take a bus!"

"And how do you think the women would react to this little plan of yours?" challenged Hanssen. Jonny hadn't yet taken into account Jac and Serena, and he knew they would hate him as long as he lived if he forced them into a football stadium.

"Leave them in the town! There's shopping centres and retail parks and stuff. Or they could take a bus up to the cinema! And then me and you can bugger off up to the footie," was Jonny's makeshift master plan.

"You assume I actually want to go," Hanssen reminded him. "I don't watch football on the television, never mind anywhere else."

Jonny suddenly pitied the man before him – how could he have lived half his live and never gone to a football game? "You've never went to see the football before?!" Jonny put into words his shock.

"I fail to see the attraction in sitting amongst drunken idiots for two hours," he retorted. "Especially since cheap alcohol is so easy to come by these days."

"But Scotland's got different drink laws to England. The shops aren't allowed to sell it on special offer or anything," Jonny contradicted him. "And anyway, everyone has to be sober to get in and have no booze on them, and they don't sell it in the park. And the police are always there for the inevitable couple of morons."

"Are you trying to talk me into or out of this?" he sighed, zipping up his suitcase, having already packed Jonny's in annoyance at his untidiness. Hanssen looked up at Jonny, who put on his best puppy-dog face in the hope it would make the cold Swede cave. It worked. "Fine!" he groaned in resignation. "But don't expect Jac and Serena to be all smiles about it."

"I'll give them directions to the cinema," Jonny waved away his concern happily. "Now I come to think of it, I think we should take a bus up to the stadium. Arklay Street's a pain to park on and the car park's sure to be full," he grinned. "It's OK," he reassured Hanssen at the look of unease on his face. "I know which bus it is."

"You'd better," Hanssen replied darkly. "If we end up lost in Dundee, I will hold you personally responsible."

The threat was genuine in his voice, so Jonny took him seriously, but he could remember which buses to take to most of the Scottish football parks now. It was one of those things he never forgot.

"Let's not tell Jac and Ms. Campbell til we get to, I dunno, Forfar? That way they won't sulk so much on the way down there," he grinned excitedly as Hanssen rolled his eyes, grabbed his coat and briefcase and strode from the room ahead of Jonny, waiting for him before he locked the door and headed down to the main reception, where Jac and Serena already stood.

"And the men say the women take ages," Serena raised an eyebrow at Hanssen. Jonny just laughed and quickly kissed Jac before they left the hotel and got in the car.

* * *

**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hello! Almost 2am again, I notice...SORRY. Thank you again to everyone who reads and reviews; much appreciated, as always! :)**

**Sarah x**

* * *

"I'm hungry!" Jonny announced half an hour after they left. Jac just rolled her eyes. It seemed Jonny wasn't capable of skipping breakfast in order to sleep in after a disturbed night's sleep and still manage to pack properly like she, Serena and Hanssen were. "Come on! We've not eaten since dinner last night!"

"Yes, and you didn't also have three tins of cola, a half pound of chocolate and a whole big bag of crisps last night, did you?" Hanssen reminded him sarcastically.

"And you had more for dinner than any of us," Jac added.

"Look," Jonny sighed, his patience obviously wearing thin. "I haven't eaten in twelve hours, and something needs done about that."

"Fine!" Serena exclaimed, realising at the same time as Jac did that they would not hear the end of it if they didn't stop for lunch. "By the time we get to Stonehaven it'll be almost one. I'm sure we can stop for a takeaway, can't we?"

"Yes, if we must," sighed Hanssen. His reluctance was beyond the norm even for Hanssen, and it made her think there was something else going on. And Jonny looked awfully pleased with himself. And Hanssen was particularly quiet, which made her suspect that perhaps he was over-thinking something.

Ten minutes later, the radio switched on with the traffic report, and the broadcaster warned, "There's an accident on the A90 at Stracathro involving three cars and a lorry. Both lanes southbound and one lane northbound have been closed while police investigate the cause and clear the road. All southbound traffic is being diverted to the back roads or the A92 and is expected to be for some time. Anyone travelling between Aberdeen and Tayside is advised to take the A92 as early as possible to avoid delays. Meanwhile, in Kirkcaldy town centre expect delays as-"

Hanssen groaned and switched the radio off, and Jonny sighed. Apparently this was not good news, then. Nevertheless, at least there was another main road home, albeit a slightly longer coastal one.

She hadn't given too much thought to what happened last night. What that ghost had said had definitely unnerved her, although she knew there was next to no chance of it being true. Then again, why would the girl have said it had she not believed what she was telling her? Jac was just grateful that Serena had not heard it. She was sure to go all maternal and logical on her if she knew.

And as for Jonny – if she was pregnant then he was the father – well, she didn't like the idea of telling him that. Even though she was in a better position for it to be true now than she had been forty-eight hours ago, she still didn't want it to be. She would deal with it, even live with it, if it was true, but the prospect was truly frightening to her, and she didn't scare easily.

The other thing, though, was that she almost hoped the ghost had been right; it would possibly be her only chance to have a child. The dilemma was so obvious to her, and yet so confusing. How could she be hoping to be true something she didn't want? It was utterly senseless. The more she thought about it, the more it messed her mind up and the more torn she was about the idea.

She sighed and rested her head back, wondering what would become of her and Jonny. It seemed they were back together – again – and she had told him she had endometriosis. How could she tell him she had that and then say the next day she was pregnant? But she was getting ahead of herself. She didn't even know if it was true or not yet. The notion that a _ghost_ could tell that she was pregnant before she could was utterly ridiculous to her. It went against all she believed in and all she stood for...so why did she find herself believing it?

Why was it always her? Why did she always get the confusing and strange situations? Even Serena's situation of being a divorced single mother seemed more appealing to Jac right now. Better than being unsure if she was pregnant or even if she really wanted to be.

She was only dragged from her musings when a soft paper package was passed back to her. Hanssen insisted on continuing to drive, ignoring Serena's protests that he should stop and eat his lunch of fish and chips. Again, his insistence made her suspicious; it was Saturday, there was no work and she knew none of them had anything to get home in a hurry for. Which, of course, had to mean that he was trying to get somewhere else fast.

As a result, Serena ate with her left hand and fed Hanssen with her right. He must have as hungry as Jonny, just silent about it rather than whining. It was absurd to watch. She tried not to meet Jonny's eyes for fear of bursting out laughing at the sight, but it was inevitable. He nudged her and nodded towards them and she started to giggle. Why she found it so funny, she would probably never know, but she and Jonny soon found themselves in silent fits of laughter over their lunch.

It took Serena and Hanssen nearly twice as long as them to finish but when they did, Serena did not hesitate in scrunching up the papers and chucking them back at Jac and Jonny with a single command: "Shut it."

It was only when they reached Arbroath that Jac realised something was going on. "Should we say something?" Jonny asked Hanssen. Henrik didn't answer so Jonny said nothing more, and Jac honestly didn't want to know what they were up to – it was probably not anything wise to be involved in if Jonny Maconie was involved.

Serena, however, was not so cautious about their motives. "What the hell are you on about now?!" she sighed, obviously not thinking much of the statement. Jonny did not reply but looked guilty as sin; Jac looked in the rear view mirror so she could see Henrik's expression and she quickly found she didn't like what she saw. The man looked just as guilty as Jonny did.

"Come on, boys," she demanded. "Spit it out. We won't hurt you, will we, Jac?" she added, turning to grin back at her. Jac smirked back at her. Honestly, it depended how severe the misdemeanour whether Jac hurt a person or not.

"Well, there's a football game," Jonny began. "Kick off's at three."

"Excuse me?" Jac growled. No way was she going to a football game. She drew the line there. She refused to subject herself to that.

"Um, Dundee United and Hibs at Tannadice," Jonny surmised for her, shrinking away from her as she grew more and more annoyed with him.

"And you agreed to this?!" Serena half-shouted at Hanssen in irritation. "Henrik, you don't know Dundee. You're going to get lost. Are you off your bloody head?"

"Probably, yes," replied Henrik dryly; he was just getting Serena more annoyed and Jac knew he knew it. "And Jonny seems quite the expert on finding football grounds."

"Please tell me you're not making us come with you!" Jac begged. She could think of nothing worse than over two hours crammed inside a stadium watching grown men act like schoolboys. The concept of it was ridiculous to her; they were just a bunch of overpaid men playing a silly game and crying like babies when someone kicked them in the shin. It was laughable to Jac.

Jonny laughed. "Don't worry. We wouldn't do that to you," he reassured them. "We'll give you the car and you can find something to do."

Serena turned around and glared at Jonny, a look of terror crossing his face. Jac laughed. "That ghost was right. You're shit scared of her!" she told Jonny; he didn't bother to deny that look of fear on his face when Serena looked at him like she wanted to kill him.

"In a city neither of us know, on roads neither of us have driven on and with no SatNav because _this_ idiot thinks he knows everything?!" she growled, jabbing a finger at Hanssen. "You're lucky I haven't jumped over this seat and murdered you."

"Whoa, calm down!" Jonny panicked. As annoyed as she was at Hanssen and Jonny's plans, she had to laugh at the expression of undiluted fear crossing the Scot's face right now as Serena threatened to kill him.

A low caution came from the silent driver - "Serena."

Her head whipped around and she rounded on him. "I'm not the moron that agreed to this in the first place, so don't even _think_ about lecturing me about getting angry at the pair of you. What the bloody hell were you thinking, agreeing to let him stop to watch the stupid football?!"

"It doesn't matter what I was thinking," Hanssen retorted calmly. "What matters is that I will find somewhere to park the car and Jonny and I will find the bus to the football pitch, leaving you and Jac to do as you please for a couple of hours."

"Like I said, what can we do when we don't have a clue where we are?!" Even Jac could tell that Serena was dangerously angry at the men, and any cockiness or cheek might well have earned them a slap at that point.

"There's a cinema," Jonny piped up, obviously trying to dig himself out of the hole he had created.

Jac sighed and turned to him, reluctantly trying to provide him with an escape route in the form of something to do while he swanned of up to the football. "Where?" she asked him.

"The big one's in Douglas," he replied.

"And you expect me to find Douglas...how, exactly?" Jac demanded. She was as annoyed as Serena was when he simply shrugged his shoulders but wasn't going to make death threats. She was too preoccupied to see them through.

"Get on the Kingsway," he suggested.

"The what?!" Serena growled loudly again, clearly angered by his utter unhelpfulness.

"Right," Hanssen cut through the argument placidly. "The next person to speak between here and Dundee is waking home. Do you understand?"

That prompted Serena to turn around and grudgingly hold her silence, knowing that Hanssen probably would actually chuck them out and make them find their own way back to Holby. The man only had so much patience and she was aware they were all severely testing it.

Before they knew it, though, they were parked in a retail park that Jonny swore blind was both on the A92 and within walking distance of the High Street. Whether Jac had it in her to believe him after he somehow convinced Hanssen to go to a football game with him was another matter entirely; he was obviously capable of being far more clever and conniving than she had ever given his credit for.

"I don't believe this," Serena muttered as Hanssen handed her the keys as they all stood outside Matalan. "You're actually leaving us to get lost in Dundee."

"You won't get lost," Hanssen replied.

"I could get lost in my own back garden," Serena admitted, staring at the keys like they were evil. Jac had never seen Serena doubt her ability until now.

"Come on, or we'll miss this game," Jonny protested. Jac rolled her eyes at his immaturity but kissed him before he left anyway. Hanssen kissed Serena, and Jac couldn't help but think he was in the dog house for this. Serena even looked furious as she kissed him, which was an achievement in itself.

Jac watched them walk away and turned to Serena. "So. Are we risking getting epically lost trying to find the cinema or do we risk getting run over trying to find the shopping centres?"

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: HELLOOOOOO! Ignore me. I'm on panikillers at the moment :D anyway. Sorry this took ages to upload. And sorry in advance if you don't get some of this! :) thanks as always to everyone who has read and reviewed!**

**Sarah x**

* * *

Hanssen followed Jonny moodily; what had possessed him to agree to this? He liked football about as much as Jac did. "Where are we going?" he asked Jonny. He knew nothing of how to get from the city centre to the football ground and was blindly, and probably stupidly, putting his trust in Jonny.

"Well, closest bus stop is Albert Square, so I guess that's where we're going," Jonny replied happily. He seemed in his element now that he was no longer under Jac and Serena's thumbs. "When you get on, ask the bus driver for Arklay Street and put the money in the machine."

When they got to the bus stop, Hanssen was wary but not surprised that there were many people waiting for the same bus. It also didn't surprise him when two teenage boys got into a bit of an argument.

"Awa' an' bile yer heid!" one of them shouted, drawing everyone's attention to them. Hanssen turned to see the two boys ready to snap at one another. "Goan, piss aff!"

"Aw, shut it, bawbag!" the other, blonde, about eighteen years old and with a seemingly rotten attitude, retorted. "Eh seen yeh chore it!"

"Check yer poakits, pal, afore eh gie yeh a skelp in the fuckin' pus!" the accused boy said, obviously trying to keep his temper. Hanssen couldn't quite understand what was going on but he could see both men were angry and both of them were also on the verge of hitting one another.

"Square go, pal!" The tall blonde stood straighter, moving towards the other boy and sticking his chest out. To Hanssen, and probably Jonny, he looked really quite moronic, but obviously it spelled trouble regardless; the atmosphere shifted from one of amused annoyance to one of genuine worry and apprehension of what may come.

A girl with dyed dark purple hair and dark eye make up, no older than nineteen or twenty, piped up, "Scott, ye erse. Lookin' fur yer wallet?"

"Eh," the young man who was calling the other a 'bawbag' replied. Henrik did not think either boy was intimidating and was almost certain that if he was to step in they would both hastily pipe down, but both clearly saw themselves and each other as intimidating.

"Went doon the cundy, pal," she told him. "Tak a look fur yersel if ye dinna believe meh." The blonde boy strode over to the girl who, now she stood next to the boy, was remarkably short. Less than five feet tall, definitely, and quite stocky. Not overweight by any means, but broad shouldered.

The blonde boy – Scott – went back to the other boy and said, "Eh'm sorry, pal."

"Nae problem, yeh bampot," the other boy clapped his arm. He opened his own wallet and handed him some money, thrusting it into his hand quite forcefully. "Here, eh've got plenty. Tak it so yeh cin git intae the fitba."

"Yeh sure?"

"Eh."

"Ta, pal," Scott replied, taking it from him.

Attention was diverted when a bus approached; it all left Hanssen bewildered so he looked to Jonny for an explanation as to how two people could be ready to knock each other out one minute and seem the best of friends the next. "Welcome to Dundee, Mr. Hanssen," he grinned.

They rode the bus in silence for a few minute before Hanssen, trying to make sense of what actually happened, asked Jonny, "What is a 'cundy' exactly?" Jonny just looked blankly at him for only a moment before he burst out laughing. Hanssen didn't see what was so funny but to Jonny it was obviously hilarious.

"It's a drain, Mr. Hanssen," he explained. "The boy's wallet must have fallen out his pocket and down the drain."

Hanssen just shook his head, wondering how he was going to survive this without accidentally and unknowingly upsetting someone. He wasn't a nervous person, apart from in two situations: those concerning women and attraction, and those concerning unknown people, places and customs. It was just his luck that both arose on this excursion, in the form of Serena Campbell and this bright idea of Jonny's.

"Remind me never to take the three of you on an extended trip ever again," he grumbled. He should have just come on his own, but he had thought Jac, Serena and Jonny would have benefited from seeing the way things were done in Aberdeen. Now, though, he wasn't sure it was worth the torment of ghosts and immaturity.

"Could have been worse," Jonny replied. "You _could_ have taken Chantelle, Elliot and Sacha. They'd drive you mad. They're too nice."

"True," he allowed as they went around a roundabout. Where they were, he had no idea, and where they were going, he was dreading. "How do you think Serena and Jac are faring?" he asked.

"Probably not very well," Jonny said. "Streets are like a bloody maze around here, 'cause it's so old. And if they dare go near the Kingsway, there's about a hundred roundabouts to work out," he exaggerated jokingly. Hanssen, however, was beginning to feel slightly guilty for leaving them when he saw just how easy it would be for them to get lost here. "Take the wrong exit and you end up away back out to Arbroath. Or towards Forfar."

He could just hear them cursing his bad judgement. Admittedly, Serena seemed to spend half her life doing that. The change in her these past few days, however, was astounding. He'd seen every side to her he had never thought existed. He could still recall the ferocious playfulness with which she had kissed him in that amusement park, and the tenderness of their late night conversation while Jonny slept and Jac was having the wits scared out of her. The image of her holding a baby, singing to the child, reminded him she was both human and a mother, and the fury he had witnessed in the car earlier was a stark reminder that she was not to be angered.

Jac, too, had shown her other persona of the fun-loving woman he knew she was, and of the vulnerability he knew lay inside her. The uncertainty in the car after their first night proved she was not the total cynic she let on to be. And the way she had acted in Codona's was reminiscent of a happy-go-lucky girl who liked a joke and sugar slightly too much.

Neither woman was who she pretended to be, and it had taken this trip to strip them down and see what lay beneath their mutually coldhearted exteriors.

At the foot of a massive hill, someone pressed the 'stop' button and half the bus stood up and got off at the stop halfway up the hill. Even Hanssen was glad they hadn't had to climb it, and he considered himself fairly fit; it was ridiculously steep. The young girl with the purple hair and dark make up from the bus stop halted them and said to Hanssen, "Lose the tie, pal. The polis'll be on ye like flehs tae a deid hare."

"Ah. She's got a point. Try and look less like a Mafia boss and more like a football fan," Jonny advised. "The police will probably pull anyone up who looks out of place and I'm afraid you fit that bill," he laughed as he undid Hanssen's tie and the girl tilted her head as she surveyed his appearance. He was glad now that he had taken his jacket off, especially when the girl stepped forward and yanked his shirt free from his trousers.

Jonny stood back slightly, next to the girl, and suggested, "Try and not stand so straight." He glared at the pair of them but gave in and relaxed his stance slightly. No doubt he would not be able to keep it up very long, but if it silenced this pair then he was willing to play along to appease them.

"There," she grinned. "Better."

"Are you quite done?" Hanssen asked them, his eyebrow raised. Jonny and the girl glanced at each other and nodded with grins. Feeling slightly odd now that he felt decidedly scruffy, he followed Jonny and found his wallet. "How much is it to get in?"

Jonny laughed and said, "I dragged you here, subjected you to the infamous Campbell wrath and made you take a detour. The least I can do is pay for your ticket."

"But-"

"No buts!"

That was the most forceful he had ever heard or seen Jonny and something cautioned him not to argue; he shrugged to himself and put his wallet away. Before Hanssen knew it, he was being breathalysed and searched. Jonny hadn't exaggerated when he said the police were strict at football matches here.

"Where ye fae?" the police officer asked, looking like he recognised Henrik.

Understanding this question enough to answer, he replied, "It depends. Do you mean where do I live or where was I born?" The officer shrugged so Henrik continued, "I'm Swedish but live and work in Holby in England. We are merely on a holiday of sorts."

"Thought eh recognised ye. CEO o' the hospital," the man said, and Hanssen just nodded, slightly surprised that the police officer knew his face. But then he remembered. As his own father had put it, he had effectively criticised the government's plans on national television. It was only just occurring to him that this included Scotland and presumably Wales and Northern Ireland. "Go right in. Mak sure ye reverse when ye git o'er the bridge on the wa' hame," he added with a grin.

"Thank you," Hanssen replied, utterly bewildered by that last statement. "What exactly did he mean when he told me to reverse when I get over the bridge?" he whispered to Jonny.

"There's a joke in Dundee that Fifers are backwards," Jonny explained. "Take no notice. Fifers make fun of the Dundee accent and the Dundonians say the Fifers have a backwards way of doing things. Just a bit of a joke, really."

"So I shouldn't reverse the car on the Fife said of the Tay Bridge then?" he checked, making sure the policeman really was just having a laugh. Jonny looked up at him for a moment and just burst out laughing.

"Not unless you want arrested for reckless driving," he spluttered. "Mind you, that's if we ever see the car and the women again. I know for a fact that Jac won't drive here and Serena admitted she's hopeless in places she doesn't know."

"Oh, don't," Hanssen groaned. "I feel bad enough for that as it is! Don't go putting thoughts of them getting lost – or worse – in my head, please."

"OK," he agreed happily. Hanssen felt the excitement in the air around him. A football match had never appealed to him in the slightest, but he could understand why it appealed to Jonny; it was the electric buzz in the air that would appeal to the young man.

They took seats, and Hanssen had to sigh in resignation that he would be stuck here for at least two hours. He only hoped Jac and Serena were having a better time than he was. He only had one advantage over them: he wasn't lost, and he had a gut feeling that they were going round and round some roundabout trying to work out which exit to take, and probably arguing about which road was the right one to take.

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Heyyyyyy! Glad you're enjoying this! Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed :)**

**Sarah x**

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"No, you go straight over this one!" Jac corrected for the third time, after an hour and a quarter of trying to find the cinema. "The technical college is there..." she trailed away, looking at her phone.

"Jac, we're on a roundabout! We haven't got all bloody day!" Serena told her. Her temper was rising with the frustration of being lost in Dundee; she'd never seen so many roundabouts in her life, and none of the signs made any sense to her. She saw a tall building and said, "There's the college over there." Serena read the various road signs and shouted, "Oh, for fuck's sake! We're in Kirkton, not Douglas!" She was only realising now that they were in entirely the wrong place.

"Language!" Jac retorted.

"Don't test my patience," Serena answered, aware that her tone of voice left something to be desired. Making a decision, she took the exit that led to the college and kept going, only to find - "Another fucking roundabout!"

"Oh, God," Jac groaned. "Why don't we just head back to the city centre?"

Serena glared at Jac. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because we have no bloody idea how to get there?!" she yelled, slamming her hand on the steering wheel in temper. The horn sounded loudly and, when she looked in the rear view mirror, a police car was behind them, obviously about to pull her over.

She took the nearest exit and pulled into the parking bay. "Fucking hell!" she growled as she cut the engine and the police car pulled up behind.

Jac turned and said to her, "Don't mouth off to them. You'll just end up in trouble."

A policeman tapped on the window so Serena let it down. "Can I see you driver's licence, please?" he asked her. She looked in her purse and found it, watching him scrutinise it before he handed it back to her.

"Step out of the car, please," he ordered them, his accent thick, and he was obviously consciously talking in English rather than whatever language, unintelligible to her, they spoke here.

She sighed and obeyed. He got out what was clearly a breathalyser and she moaned inwardly, trying to remember how much she had drunk yesterday and if she was going to be over or under the legal limit. "Blow into this tube until I say," he said. She did as he said, blowing hard into the tube until said, "Aye, stop." he read the screen and Serena held her breath as she continued to work out if she was legal to drive or not. "You're under the limit. Sorry about that. We're careful on football days, you see."

"No problem," she answered, forcing herself to be polite.

"Do you know why I pulled you over?"

"Might have something to do with the fact I drove around that roundabout a half a dozen times and then hit the steering wheel in temper when I got off that one only to find this one?" she guessed. He nodded. "Yeah, we're not from here. Our...partners," she allowed herself to call Hanssen as such, "have gone to the football and left us to find our own way for a while."

"I'm going to kill Jonny," she heard Jac mutter from the passenger seat.

"Where are you wanting to go?" he asked.

"I think back to the city centre is probably safest," Jac answered from inside the car with a smile.

"Follow the signs for the Tay Bridge," he explained. "Go back up to the Old Glamis Road circle and go from there. You don't want to have to go through Claverhouse, which is where you're headed. It only leads to more and more circles. You'll just get more lost."

"Thanks," Serena forced a smile. "Are we free to go?"

"Of course. Have a good day, ladies," he smiled as he went back to his patrol car. She waited outside until he drove away, back over the roundabout and past the college.

Serena got into the car again and heard Jac laughing. She threw her head back against the headrest, and moaned, "Thank God I was under the limit!"

She started the engine, breathing deeply to calm herself down a bit, and headed back to the Old Glamis Road roundabout, taking the exit that directed her to the bridge. Now she knew where she was headed, she could think about Jac and last night.

She remembered the ill-disguised shock in Jac's voice and how different and subdued she had been this morning in their room. She had barely spoken, which was not typical of Jac. If Jac Naylor wanted to say something, she bloody well said it, but she had been reserved and held her tongue.

"Yes!" Jac exclaimed triumphantly as they approached the same car park they had began in. Serena allowed a smile and parked in front of Marks and Spencer.

She gave Jac some money. "Here, you'd best get three or four hours. Last thing we need is to get Henrik a parking ticket," she said. "He might actually kill us if that happened."

Jac laughed and got out, and Serena took a moment to take a breath of relief. On reflection, perhaps she shouldn't have cursed so much, but she honestly had never seen so many confusing roundabouts in her life; it was ridiculous. How they had happened upon a college while searching for a cinema, she would never understand.

They eventually found the high street, and it too seemed slightly confusing, as if split in half by a single street in the middle. As they approached the big shopping centre, Serena saw a bunch of statues, including a tall man and a girl with a slingshot. "What the bloody hell is _that_?!" she demanded, pointing at the metal man with his chest pushed out.

"Desperate Dan," Jac replied. "Comic book stuff. I only know because Jonny is still childish enough to read them. They must have been created here," she shrugged.

They went into the shopping centre and wandered down the middle. This place, at least, appeared to be a straight line and reasonably simple. They reached Superdrug and Jac announced, "I'm just going in here to get a drink."  
"OK. I'll go into the phone shop and see what this galaxy-thingy that Eleanor wants is," she smiled, heading to the phone shop. She was only half paying attention to the phones, the other half of her mind wandering to Jac. She was trying to work out just how seriously Jac was taking the ghost's words about pregnancy; she had quickly dismissed it but she didn't believe the redhead was capable of just letting it go.

When she turned around, Jac was standing behind her, holding out a bottle of Diet Coke and drinking from one herself. "Right," she said. "Next stop: the bathrooms."

"Good idea," Serena agreed. She didn't need to go herself, but she wanted to wait for Jac, probably paranoid that they would get separated and lost if more than a couple of shops apart. And something instinctive told her to keep Jac on a short leash. She had a feeling she was going to be needed, sooner or later.

They found the women's' toilets, wide and open at the sinks and apparently empty aside from a woman in her twenties with bright blue hair washing her hands. "I'll just wait here," Serena said, leaning against the wall. The room smelled of bubblegum. Maybe it was the soap.

She sighed. She also had an unpleasant feeling about Jonny and Henrik. She didn't believe them capable of not getting into some sort of trouble. Jonny could be a bit silly and, get a drink or three down him, and she had a suspicion that Henrik could be just as bad. It had been a bad idea to allow them to go off on their own, just as it had been a terrible idea to try and drive in Dundee.

A few minutes passed and Serena felt compelled to call out, "Jac, you OK?"

"Yeah," Jac replied, but Serena remained unconvinced; her voice was cracked and nervous, which was something that simply did not happen to Jac. When she stepped out of the cubicle, Serena's suspicions were confirmed. Jac was drained white as she washed her hands.

When she put her hands under the drier, Serena noticed something poking out from under Jac's sleeve. "What's that?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

Serena made a lunge for Jac but she dodged it, slipping whatever it was from under her sleeve and held it behind her back. "Come on, Jac!" Serena exclaimed, very glad there was no-one else here to witness this madness. She tried to go around Jac to see from behind but she only turned and blocked her view.

"Serena-" Jac began, but she was silenced when Serena grabbed hold of the arm behind her back and pulled, forcing her hand, quite literally.

In Jac's hand was what Serena quickly recognised as a pregnancy test and, upon closer inspection, a positive one at that. "You're pregnant," she whispered, slightly dumbfounded.

"No shit, Sherlock," Jac glared at her. "Can you let go of my arm now?!"

Shocked, not believing the ghost was actually right, she released Jac. A few moments passed, the silence tense between them until Serena broke it. "Are you OK?"

"I don't know," Jac replied quietly. "Just when I was beginning to accept that this was nearly impossible..."

Serena followed her first instinct and put her arms around Jac, pulling her into a tight cuddle. In her experience, where words could not be found, a hug was the next best thing, sometimes even better. She felt a shell-shocked Jac hold onto her for dear life.

Serena had been here herself – pregnant and not really sure if she wanted to be or not. But it had worked out alright. She had Eleanor as a result and, thought the girl drove her up the wall, but she would not change the way things had happened. Not even the wreckage of a marriage and the subsequent divorce.

All she could say was, "It'll be OK." She put Jac at arm's length, her hands on her slim shoulders. "I know it's a bit of a shock, and being told by a ghost is barely normal, but it'll be OK. You and Jonny will be good parents."

"Don't tell him," was Jac's first request at hearing her boyfriend's name. "Not yet. I will tell him, but I want to do it in my own time."

"Of course," Serena agreed. "Your prerogative."

"Thanks," she sighed. Then a look of curiosity crossed her face and she added, "How did you know what the ghost said?"

"Yeah, I wasn't actually asleep," Serena confessed. "At least you know now. Are you keeping the baby?"

"Yeah. I might not be the most maternal person on the planet, but this might be my last chance," Jac explained with a small smile.

"Well," Serena smiled, trying to keep Jac optimistic, "in that case, congratulations!"

"Thanks," Jac replied.

Serena's ringtone rang shrilly through the silence. Jonny. "Hello?" she answered, wondering why he was phoning.

"Mr. Hanssen and I were wondering..." he began, and she heard Henrik protest in the background. "Well, it's a draw and we've been invited for a drink in the pub just up the road. Do you reckon..."

"You want us to wait another hour, don't you?" she drawled. She should have seen this coming. However, deciding it was a good idea to give Jac another hour or so to get her head around being pregnant, she said, "There's another..." she checked her watch, "...hour and a half on our parking ticket. Any longer and you two are paying the fine. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Jonny agreed happily.

She hung up on him at that, deciding that she didn't want to hear any more when he was so obviously excited. Jac raised an eyebrow for an explanation. "They're going for a drink," she sighed. "Which means...we can go and abuse or credit card," she grinned.

Jac laughed and Serena led her back to the shops, just glad the younger woman wasn't in tears like she had half-expected when she had realised that Jac Naylor, of all people, really _was_ pregnant.

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**Hope this is alright!  
Please feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!  
Sarah x**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: HELLO. Well, isn't this a ridiculous time to be updating?! But I enjoyed writing this and I'm not even remotely tired since I came off those bloody painkillers :) as always, thanks to everyone who reads and reviews!**

**Sarah x**

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Jonny found himself suddenly walking up the hill after Serena, sounding slightly worried and pissed off, had hung up on him. He couldn't believe he had got Hanssen to agree to go to a pub. "Where we going?" he asked the young man of about twenty-two next to him.

"Cleppy pub," was the answer he received. "Clepington Road," he clarified, like it was going to make any more sense to Jonny and Hanssen than "Cleppy pub" had done. "Up there," he pointed up the hill.

"Ugh," Jonny groaned. "You have to be kidding me."

He looked up at Hanssen, who glared at him, and quickly looked away, wondering if taking Hanssen to a pub was the wisest of ideas; the man didn't seem like much of a drinker and he definitely was not much of a socialiser. But he had agreed to it, so if this went badly it wasn't Jonny's fault...he hoped.

Once at the top of the hill, the walked along a bit until they came to a lively pub. Grinning, Jonny bounced in and immediately made some friends when he offered to buy the first round. Whisky and IrnBru, he discovered, was popular with the younger men. "What do you want, Mr. Hanssen?" he asked. When he didn't get an answer, he turned to find Hanssen straight as a rod and looking utterly clueless. "Mr. Hanssen?"

"I'm fine, thank you," he replied.

"Come on! Have a drink with us!"

Hanssen didn't say anything but he did sit down on a stool next to Jonny, looking utterly bored. Deciding to take some drastic action, he ordered a whisky and IrnBru. "Get that down you," he ordered Hanssen. He eyed it with utter distaste. "God, at least try it!" Jonny exclaimed hopelessly. The man was a nightmare!

Hanssen took a sip, albeit with a glare, and then another. Well. They'd found something he liked fairly easily then. "At last, something the man actually likes!" Jonny rejoiced as he took a drink from his own glass. "Line another few up, mate," he requested of the barman, who shook his head to himself with a small smile.

Half an hour later, Jonny felt decidedly relaxed and slightly tipsy. He had apparently been right about Hanssen and alcohol; he had not had much more than Jonny and was visibly unsteady. However, he was smiling. He was giving the occasional laugh. He had never heard Hanssen properly laugh before, and it did not sound as cold as he would have expected. He was almost warm and friendly right now, actually.

He looked at his watch, remembering Serena wanted them back down the town in an hour. That gave them another forty minutes here. And Hanssen looked like he needed something to sober him up or Serena was going to kill him for getting pissed. He bought a bag of cheese and onion crisps and handed them to Hanssen. He screwed hid face up slightly at them, so Jonny reminded him, "You've got yourself _involved_ with Serena Campbell, and I doubt she's going to tolerate you being drunk when she's driving home. She will _punish_ you."

Convinced, Hanssen opened the bag and started eating, though he obviously wasn't enjoying it much. "Why _did_ you get involved with Serena?" asked Jonny curiously, knowing Hanssen's tongue was loosened by alcohol.

Henrik met his gaze for only a moment before finding some immense interest in his crisps. "She's strong, wickedly funny, beautiful..." he trailed away, the pink tinge in his cheeks giving away his embarrassment. "...and not to mention extremely intelligent."

"But she's scary!" Jonny protested; a man would have to be an idiot to get involved with Serena.

"She's not as scary as you would think. Not when you're alone with her."

Jonny wasn't sure what to say. It was clear to him that Hanssen had fallen for Serena in a pretty big way. Whether it was good for both of them or a huge mistake was yet to be seen, but Jonny had a suspicion both of them had been alone for far too long and may well have seen something special in one another. Jonny couldn't see it, but if they did, that was all that mattered.

Suddenly, there was a great deal of shouting from behind them. "Git tae fuck!" a man of around thirty shouted at another, whose friends quickly surrounded him. The man who spoke, it seemed, also had friends, because he was quickly flanked as well. One towered over the rest as he jumped onto the table and threatened to batter one of the men.

There was a noise of unintelligible shouting even Jonny couldn't decipher; they were shouting over one another so what they were saying could not be figured out by anyone. They started pushing each other, and Jonny's instinctual reaction was to dive between them all and try and split them up.

Hanssen did the same, getting in between them, but received a punch to the face from the man on the table for his troubles. When he regained his balance, Hanssen simply pushed the man by the abdomen and he toppled backwards off the table, onto the soft bench behind, completely unhurt.

"Aw, great, Mr. Hanssen," Jonny groaned. "You've bloody done it now!" Hanssen looked confused until one of the men knocked Jonny about the face. "Thanks a bunch, Henrik," he muttered, wiping the blood from his lip.

"OK!" the barman shouted. "A'bdy just calm doon!"

None of the men listened as they set about Jonny and Hanssen. Hanssen was far stronger than looked – he took one of the shorter, stockier men by the shirt and forced him down onto a padded bench. Jonny ducked when a punch came out of nowhere but did not retaliate; it would only make matters much, much worse. The man tripped and fell forwards, knocking another one over as Jonny jumped out of the way to avoid being bowled down with them.

A man lunged for Hanssen who, though he was fairly drunk, stepped aside and let the man fall onto the bench next to the other two he had disabled. It wasn't long before those three got back up and got back into the muddle of punching and ducking going on.

There were another three men trying to break up the fight and it took Jonny a few moments to realise – "Oh, shit."

The three new men were wearing black uniforms. "Break it up, lads!" one of them shouted, handcuffing the ones refusing to stop fighting. He felt himself being handcuffed and saw them do the same to Hanssen, reading them all their rights collectively.

"Serena and Jac are going to _kill_ us," Jonny moaned to himself.

The man Hanssen had pushed off the table piped up to the barman, "Fuck's sake! Thur wis nae need tae git the polis in!"

"Aw, naw," the barman retorted. "Naw, just lit yehs kick the shite oot o' each other, eh? Dinna think sae."

Jonny didn't fight the police as they put him and Hanssen into a saloon car and started driving. "We are _fucked_," Jonny whispered to him, not even caring about using bad language in front of Henrik Hanssen.

"I couldn't agree more," Hanssen replied, leaning his head back, probably wondering the same thing as Jonny: how long would it take for Jac and Serena to murder them for this? And what could they be charged with.

"On the up side, there's no common assault charge in Scotland," Jonny said to him quietly. "And we didn't hurt them."

"Jonny, just shut up," Hanssen sighed.

They sat in silence as they were driven through Dundee to the police station and led inside. "Right. Who do we call for you?"

"Serena Campbell," Henrik immediately answered, and gave them her mobile number that he had obviously memorised.

"Huh," the policeman said. "I pulled a Serena Campbell over earlier up at the Kirkton circle." Jonny and glanced at Hanssen and repressed a smirk, glad they were not the only ones who had been in trouble with the police. "Didn't arrest her, mind."

"Interview one and four, pal," he said to a young constable, who led them to the interview rooms. It was only when separated from Hanssen that Jonny accepted they could be in serious trouble. Though there was no common assault charge, they were still drunk and they had definitely been disorderly.

He waited for almost an hour before the sergeant came into the room. He pressed the recorder button and said, "Interview with Jonny Maconie commenced at..." he paused to check his watch. "...nineteen thirty-two. Present are Sergeant Robertson and Constable Martin. Mr. Maconie has been arrested at Clepington Bar and is under caution."

All formalities out of the way, Sergeant Robertson said, "So, Mr. Maconie. We've spoken to your Swedish pal, and to the rest of the men involved. What's your side of the story?"

"Well," Jonny took a deep breath. "We went to the Hibs and Dundee United match and got invited for a drink up the road. We were there for, what, half an hour? This bunch of guys, seven or eight of them, ganged up on each other. When they started throwing punches, Mr. Hanssen and I tried to break them up but they turned on us."

"And were you hurt?"

"Aye, one of them split my lip and Mr. Hanssen's gonna need a splint on his nose by the look of him," he explained. The officers were about to speak but knowing what they were about to say, "I'm a nurse. Mr. Hanssen is the CEO and DoS at Holby City Hospital."

"DoS?" Constable Martin enquired.

"Director of Surgery."

Sergeant Robertson nodded and added, "And did _you_ hurt any of _them_?"

"No," Jonny answered. "Mr. Hanssen made one sit down and I think he knocked the one who punched him off the table he was stood on so he couldn't do it again, but we didn't hurt anyone. I just ducked when they swung for me."

The officers looked at each other and silently agreed on something, though Jonny wasn't sure what. He was only hoping he and Hanssen would not charged and could go home today. "Well, Mr. Maconie," Sergeant Robertson said. "Your story matches everyone else's – they were fighting, and you and Mr. Hanssen attempted to stop it and instead ended up defending yourselves. Your only crime was being stupid enough to get between eight men fighting."

"So what are we being charged with?" Jonny asked, his heart beating too fast in his nerves and apprehension.

"The eight men all have previous for fighting so will be charged with various crimes, especially they've admitted to taking chucks out each other," Robertson explained. "But you and Mr. Hanssen, by all accounts, are innocent and were only defending yourselves. Just don't be stupid enough to think two men can take on eight and win in future, pal," he advised.

"You mean we can go?!" Jonny asked incredulously.

"Aye," they said together.

"Thank God!" Jonny sighed, relieved the other men had told the truth and had not blamed him and Hanssen for what happened.

"Interview terminated at nineteen forty. Mr. Maconie has not been charged with any crime and is free to leave."

They led him outside and let him wait in the corridor while they got Hanssen. His recently calmed nerves started panicking again when he remembered Serena had been called and she, and presumably Jac, would be picking them up at the station. Oh, Christ. Now he almost wished he'd been charged and put in a cell!

Hanssen approached, looking both beat up and still slightly under the influence. "Never take me to a pub again," he warned.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

They walked slowly to the end of the corridor and Jonny knew Hanssen was taking his time for the same reason he was – Jac and Serena were sure to be waiting for them, and he did not want to have to explain this to them. The main reception was visible far too soon and they stopped for a moment, both trying to find some composure and dignity before facing the women.

They stepped into the main entrance area to find an unimpressed-looking Serena and Jac sitting next to each other in chairs, wearing the same shrivelling glare, directed at them.

Jonny gulped and looked up at Hanssen. "We're dead," he informed him, glancing back the women and finding he was rather frightened of them.

"I think I'd rather go back and live with that ghost," Hanssen admitted, his face draining white at the sight of Serena, making the bruise on his cheek and across his nose even more pronounced.

"Me too."

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: This chapter is a little bit more bittersweet in places than previous chapters but I hope it's still OK :) thanks, as usual, to all the lovely people reading and reviewing!**

**Sarah x**

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"Not a word," Serena warned the men as she stood up, pulling her blouse around her body and picking up her back. "Thank you, Sergeant," she nodded. "I apologise for their stupidity," she glared at Jonny and Hanssen, who wisely shut up.

With a sense of deja vu she was resisting the urge to punch Hanssen herself. Cursing her own stupidity for falling for an idiot, she led them out.

"Serena," Hanssen began, coming up behind her, and she felt his presence barely an inch behind her.

She turned around and looked up at him, trying not to feel hurt at being in this sort of long-forgotten situation. "Shut up, Henrik," she commanded him, pushing him gently a step away from her. "You stink of booze. Just get in the car."

"I'm-"

"Save it," she cut him off, not letting him speak before she got in the driver's seat and turned the engine on. She was fuming. She had never pegged Hanssen for the type to go and get pissed and then proceed to get himself arrested. She was an idiot for thinking he could be trusted to behave himself. She was an idiot for thinking he was capable of being different.

Furious, she revved the engine, getting some satisfaction from abusing his car. "Serena, calm down!" Jac hissed. It was only then that she realised how agitated she really was by Henrik's behaviour. She reminded herself that Jonny had done the same and Jac, though slightly pissed off, was not really angry. She seemed to find it almost amusing.

Serena took a deep breath and reminded herself that Hanssen was not stupid enough to do this on a regular basis, and that the police had said he was only breaking up a fight. He, allegedly, had not started it, which was a small mercy she was never accustomed to getting.

By the time they reached Glenrothes, Serena looked in the rear-view mirror to find Hanssen and Jonny both fast asleep, leaning inwards, heads on each other's shoulders. She had to stifle and snigger as she nudged Jac and nodded at the mirror.

The redhead turned around and back again with an evil grin. "Give me your phone," Jac said quietly. Serena glanced at her. "It'll be better coming from you."

Reluctantly, Serena pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to Jac, who turned around and took a photo of the men. After a couple of minutes, Jac said, while tapping furiously at the keyboard on the phone, "What...happens...when...a...Scot...and...a...Swed e...go...to...the...pub...in...Dundee."

Realising that Jac had just cascaded that photo throughout the hospital using Serena's email address, she had to give a quiet laugh. Well, at least Michael Spence would never let Hanssen forget he got into a pub fight. The teasing they were sure to receive at work was a small form of revenge. "Tell me you didn't send that to Cunningham," Serena said, remembering that Cunningham didn't much like Hanssen at the best of times.

"Of course not. I didn't send it to anyone on the Board. I just thought Mo and Michael would get a laugh," she grinned. "And Chantelle. And Sacha. And Harry. And Digby. You get the idea," she winked mischievously. "Why are you so angry with them?"

"Because it was a stupid thing to do."

"Everyone does stupid things sometimes," Jac shrugged. "They didn't mean any harm, and they got arrested and punched, so they've learned their lessons. And I can assure you Jonny won't be doing anything that idiotic any time soon."

Serena allowed a low laugh to escape her, knowing Jac well and truly meant what she said – Jonny wasn't going to get off lightly. She knew Jac well enough to know that, once they were in private, she would give her boyfriend hell for his antics.

"Believe me," Serena said, "neither will Henrik."

She wanted to ask Jac how she felt about being pregnant but didn't trust that Jonny and Hanssen were properly asleep, and she knew Jac didn't want them to know about it. She instead ripped open a big bag on Magic Stars with her teeth and handed them to Jac, who happily started sharing them with her. She hoped Jac knew she was always there when she felt she needed to talk about that particular situation.

The stopped not long after they crossed the border – Jac needed the bathroom and if Serena didn't eat something halfway decent soon, she was going to pass out. She grinned at Jac as she pulled into the almost empty car park at a fairly high speed and did an emergency stop. There was a loud groan from the back as Jonny and Hanssen lurched forward with the braking force of the car and were made to wake up.

"Wakey wakey," Jac smirked as Serena cut the engine.

They got out and opened a back door each, letting Hanssen and Jonny out. "Slept it off yet?" Serena asked Hanssen, who still looked worse for wear. Of course, that might have been a blessing in disguise – maybe the booze affected him so much because he wasn't a drinker. Or maybe he had just discovered some horrible concoction that was insanely bad for him.

"Yes," he said. He went to brush her hair out of her eyes but she instinctively stepped back, earning a slightly concerned look from him. It was a reaction she had gained control of a long time ago, until now. She watched Jac walk ahead with Jonny, hand in hand, to the all-night café; she sighed and walked away from Hanssen as she followed them.

Jac wasn't reacting to their stupidity like Serena was. Though irritated, Jac was still speaking to Jonny, still smiling at him, still laughing with him. But Serena couldn't do that. Instead she found herself doubting her judgement in starting a relationship with Hanssen after he proved he could still be dangerously stupid.

She sat on her own with a plate of macaroni cheese and chips, watching Jac and Jonny sit at another table together. She had deliberately picked a table for two so that Jac had the opportunity of alone time with Jonny in case she wanted to come clean.

In Serena's eyes, the sooner Jac told Jonny she was pregnant, the sooner they could just bloody well get on with being a family. Her own pregnancy had been a blessing and a curse; she had been given Eleanor but, rather than bringing her and her husband closer together, the strain just made their already difficult marriage become unbearable.

She was forced out of her own mind when Hanssen sat down opposite her with a bowl of soup and two coffees. "Are you alright?" he asked, and she heard the genuine concern in his voice.

She shrugged. "I'm not the one who got themselves beat up."

"So why the cold shoulder?"

"I'm not giving you the cold shoulder."

"You are."

She looked up to meet his gaze, eyes locked with his. He reached out to her again, and it seemed he wanted to just touch her to make sure she wasn't scared of him, but she couldn't allow it. Her mind forced her body to flinch back from him. "Serena."

"Mr. Hanssen."

The cold use of his 'work name' seemed to startle him, but it got her point across. If he wanted this to blow over, he had to back off and let her mind work this over. She had to work out if she really wanted to go down that road. This, in a way, was a mild reality check for her; she had been naïve to think Hanssen would never play up on her or go out and misbehave.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I know I was stupid. It was a stupid fight. We should never have got involved."

"Too bloody right."

She was concentrating on her meal rather than Hanssen, in case she said something she shouldn't. She glanced over at Jac, who looked like she was choking on what she was trying to get out, and realised she was still too shocked to tell Jonny the truth. With this in mind, she picked up her plate and went over to sit next to Jac. Jonny was pretty much sober and unreservedly repentant for his sins – the first thing he said to Serena was an uninhibited apology.

She said nothing but gave him a small smile. She sneaked a glance at an extremely confused and slightly miserable-looking Hanssen. She almost felt guilty. Almost.

When she finished her meal, she got up to go to the bathroom, but a strong hand caught her wrist on the way past. She halted and looked down at Hanssen. "I _am_ sorry," he said. She believed him. She really did. But she was reminded of too much else to just see him when he said it.

She sighed and allowed, "I know you are."

"Why are you so upset by it?" he asked the dreaded question. It was a question she didn't even want to think about answering.

"I'm not upset," she quickly denied.

"I know when you're upset, Serena," he reminded her gently. She felt the hand he had wrapped around her wrist slip down to interlock their fingers. "What is it about Jonny and I getting in trouble that upsets you so much?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "I spent years picking my husband up from bars, police stations and hospitals. I don't want to do that with you as well."

There. It was out, and she couldn't retract it. "You won't have to that with me," he promised her. "Look at me," he added. She opened her eyes and he said to her, "That was a one-off. I've never done that before and I never intend on doing it again." He gave her a strange look and asked her, "Did he ever hit you?"

She looked away from him. "Only a couple of times. And he was always drunk when he did it."

"Is that why you keep backing away from me?" he guessed. She met his eyes and she didn't have to answer. He already saw into her mind and her heart to see the answer. He stood up and closed what little space there was between them. "It doesn't matter if he was drunk and it doesn't matter how many times he did it. He was absolutely wrong to hit you, under any circumstances. I would never lay a finger on you, Serena."

She looked up at him and found she believed him. He wasn't her ex-husband. He was Henrik, and he would not treat her badly. Today was just a mistake. A blip. Stupid, yes, but he had not meant any harm, he had not actually hurt anyone and, most importantly, she could tell he wouldn't hurt _her_.

"I know," she replied. "I know. It's just that picking you up at a police station reminded me of him. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for," he dismissed. She felt him gently pull her into a kiss, his hand firm but soft on her face. She kissed him back and wrapped her arms around him; she pulled back to see if he really was trustworthy, and it was written all over his face that he was. She smiled and quickly kissed him again. He then pulled her into a tight cuddle, her cheek leaning against his chest.

She caught sight of Jac's wide smile, obviously happy that she had sorted out her issue with Hanssen. He squeezed her tightly and a strange feeling of warmth flooded through her. She had not thought Henrik Hanssen capable of being so gentle and caring, and no man had treated her with this much tenderness in many years.

She moved her head to see his face, and he just kissed her forehead without a word, and she knew he really was sorry, and this was his way of showing that he both regretted the stupid actions that momentarily frightened her, and that he really did care for her. She knew her brief anger and fear were somewhat irrational, but she had never thought that she would ever need reassurance from Henrik. She was, however, glad for the reassurance he had given her.

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**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to review and tell me what you thought!  
Sarah x**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: HELLOOOOOOO! I'm just back from fitting a spring on my Grandad's car because I'm the best granddaughter ;) anyway, I think there will be two, maybe three, chapters after this one - one with Jac and Jonny, and one or two with them all in the hospital on the Monday morning. Thanks as always to those who read and review!**

**Sarah x**

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They pulled up outside Jac's home and Serena let them out, having agreed that going to the hospital in the state Hanssen and Jonny were in was not a good idea. They could pick up their cars later – that was what taxis and buses were for.

"You'll have to give me directions to your house," Serena told him. She was still a little frosty with him; he had a feeling he had spooked her a bit. She was close but distant at the same time. He was allowed to touch her, at least, but while Jac and Jonny were sleeping in the back he had asked her about what it was that happened between her and her husband that knocked her confidence, but was told to shut up and leave it. Being hit would not have shattered her confidence every time it was mentioned; she was no victim. She didn't allow herself to be.

He was certain that something else had happened. She was able to tell him her husband had been unpleasant, but he knew her flirtatious nature was a guise for something in her past that made her feel inadequate.

He told her to take the next left and she nodded silently. She was being perfectly polite with the cold bite that reminded him his stupidity had somehow hurt her. It was after midnight, and he could see she wasn't in the mood for being grilled for answers.

"Pull over here," he pointed to the parking layby outside his house. "Thank you."

"I didn't realise we live so close," she quietly admitted. "Where's the nearest bus stop?" she asked. He turned to look at her with confusion. "Well, I can hardly take your car home, can I?!" she explained, getting out with a huff. He heard her open the boot and pull his bag out. He started slightly when the passenger door opened; he had actually forgotten that Serena had been driving his car since they had left Dundee.

He stepped out and said to her, "There's not going to be a bus at this time of the night."

"I'll walk then."

"Don't be silly. Stay over here," he replied to her, surprising himself with the offer, and how little it bothered him. Lit only by the streetlights, her face took on a strange radiance that exaggerated how tired she was. He couldn't let her walk home like that. He held out his hand to her, and she eyed it with caution. She took his hand and let him guide her to his front door.

When he got in, he switched the lights on, glad to be home after such a ridiculously strange trip away. He tried to work out when his feelings for Serena started to become confused. Was it when she had made fun of him in Aberdeen, her slightly childish side coming out? Or when she had sat with him during the night? Or when she had picked up a screaming baby in the children's hospital and hushed her into calmness? When she had passionately accused him of winding her up? When he had seen her vulnerable and embarrassed after ranting about him dressed in only a towel?

He sat down on the black leather sofa and leaned back his head with his eyes closed, thankful he was no longer sitting in a car.

"He cheated."

Her voice made him open his eyes.

"Edward," she explained. "My ex-husband. He likes to drink and he likes to act the big man. He's never satisfied with what he's got and he commits to nothing, especially someone like _m__e_," she sneered, clearly believing there was something wrong with her. "He needs put back in his place once in a while, when he's completely out of line. He's got a thing for pretty women, as well, which something I've never been."

"Stop saying those things about yourself," he snapped, suddenly hating to hear her put herself down like that. She was frightening at times, yes, but she was by no means unattractive. "Just stop it."

She gave a bitter laugh. "Look at me," she retorted, gesturing down at her tired form. "Forty-something divorced single mother everyone is scared to go within a hundred feet of because I have a solid brick wall around me!"

He sighed and waited for her to sit down. He wasn't surprised that when she did sit down, she was was floppy and exhausted from driving so long. She rubbed her neck tiredly and groaned. "I'm sorry," she sighed. "I shouldn't sound off at you. You're not him. I know that."

He reached around to the back of her neck, massaging it lightly with his fingers. "Anyway," she huffed. "You never explained."

"What haven't I explained?" he asked, suddenly nervous as he realised there were many things he had not explained to her.

"Anything," she accused lightly. "You haven't explained why you're the way you are. The sarcasm, the frankly _awful_ social skills, the complete mistrust of everyone around you...that doesn't just happen on its own, Henrik."

She was smarter than he had given her credit for. Of course, he had always known she was highly intelligent and had more recently discovered she could be really quite devious, but he hadn't thought her so observant as to notice all his failings and realise that something or someone made him like this. Most wrote it off, as far as he knew, as a strange man just being strange. Only Jac Naylor seemed to know that something lay beneath and ate away at him every day.

He stood up and strode through to the kitchen for coffee and time, needing to think his way out of this. He should have known Serena had seen through him when she stared intently at him like she often did. He should have known that embarking on any kind of relationship with Serena Campbell was a bad idea.

He put the kettle on and spooned out coffee, but froze when a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind. Was this her way of making him feel safe? Or was it a false sense of security she intended to use against him? Could he really trust her? But then why would she have explained why her confidence wasn't what it sometimes appeared had she not trusted him with the knowledge? Why would she trust him if she intended to betray him?

She ran her hands across his chest and his abdomen, and he felt his body react to her touch with heat and nerves. "Who hurt you, Henrik?"

In truth, he had hurt himself more than anyone had done to him. "It doesn't matter," he replied. She huffed sulkily, but he was not ready to confess his sins to her. "All that matters is that _I_ won't hurt _you_."

Serena was stubborn but she wasn't stupid; even she knew when to let it go. "And I won't hurt you either," she answered him.

He turned around and studied her face. She raised her eyebrow at him as she waited for him to speak. "I don't care if your ex-husband prefers other women to you," he stated. "You're incredibly beautiful."

It was with satisfaction that he watched her mouth drop open in shock. He realised he was not renowned for saying such things, but he felt she needed the assurance. He leaned in and kissed her open mouth until a shocked Serena responded, satisfied that for once he had the upper hand. She moaned softly and her arms once again wrapped tightly around him.

The idea of coffee lay forgotten as they stumbled together back to the living room. "You don't half know how to distract a woman," she gasped out. He smiled and kissed her jawbone, glad he had diverted her attention away from his personality issues. He felt her hands under his loose shirt, and he was quite thankful Jonny and the unknown girl had roughed him up a bit in Dundee. Her fingers were warm against his flat stomach and he pulled her down onto the sofa with him.

She yanked his shirt over his head and he let his hands wander underneath her blouse, feeling her warm skin against the palms of his hands, but she suddenly froze. "Sorry," she whispered. "I..." she struggled. She stood up with her hands over her face. He stood up, acutely aware he was topless, and pulled her hands away from her face.

Apart from the incident with Adrienne, he had never really seen her struggle with anything, but she was even worse at this game than he was. He had never thought she was actually so vulnerable in this situation – she hid it well. It made Henrik wonder if Edward Campbell knew what his desire for other women had done to his wife. She was left with little self-esteem and a façade of arrogance to disguise it.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's just I've not done this in a long time and I know I'm not good enough and-"

"What did you just say?!" he demanded sharply.

"I know I'm not good enough for you," she repeated. He glared at her for even thinking that, but she proceeded to explain herself. "Henrik, logic dictates that when people leave you for a better version and others avoid you like the bloody plague, there must be something wrong with you." She looked at her watch. "It's one in the morning and I've been driving all night. Alright for some, sleeping in the car while I drive down the bloody motorway in the dead of night. I'm going to sleep."

She sat down and reached behind her for the blanket that sat on the back of the sofa. Hanssen just shook his head. And she had the cheek to call _him_ socially hopeless?! Where was the sudden illogical caution coming from?

"Stop being silly," he ordered her, holding out his hand for her to take. "Come on," he told her as he took the blanket from over her body. It was odd – the more she resisted, the more he wanted her by his side.

"Are you still drunk?" she asked.

"Of course not!" he protested. "I've slept it off! It's Jonny's fault anyway. He convinced me to drink IrnBru and whisky."

"IrnBru and whisky? In the same glass?" she demanded, looking like she was going to gag. "You actually drank that?"

"It wasn't actually that bad," he replied honestly. She burst out laughing, though he could not for the life of him figure out what was so hilarious.

"I'm sorry," she giggled. "It's just the mental image of you actually in a pub, drinking IrnBru and whisky. Socialising." He glared playfully at her, but it seemed to just make her laugh more. Perhaps she was over-tired.

She stood up and the caution had dissipated; she followed him up the stairs to his room and kicked her boots off at the foot of the bed. Hanssen couldn't help but kneel down and straighten them upright, though he received a roll of the eyes from Serena for his troubles. He sighed and dug out an old t-shirt for her to wear to bed. He got changed himself while Serena was surveying her surroundings; he could see she was tired and trying to make sense of how she ended up in his bedroom, so he left her while he brushed his teeth.

He returned five minutes later but stopped before he got to the door when he heard her voice. "_What we want is love; what we need is love_," she was singing, her voice light and quiet, yet flawless. He looked around the door to find her sitting on the bed, dressed in only his t-shirt with his old abandoned acoustic guitar sitting on her bare thigh. "_I tried to make it feel right in someone else's world; sat and looked out my window last night and knew that things had changed with this girl; 'cause what I really found is love; what I really feel is love; what we really want is love; what we really need is love_..."

She looked slightly embarrassed when she looked up from her fingers to find him standing before her. "I'm sorry," she apologised again. "I saw it in the corner and I just wanted to see if I could still play." Her fingers were still resting on the last chord she had played – a D major chord – and he saw an immense vulnerability in her façade.

He smiled to himself, and shocked her again, if her dumbfounded expression was anything to go by – "Your voice is quite beautiful." A musician was something he had never thought Serena was but obviously he was mistaken. He took the guitar from her and leaned it against the wall before he said to her, "You need to sleep."

She grinned and got under the duvet at the same time as him. "'Night," she murmured.

Hanssen shook his head to himself, bewildered by how quickly the woman could transform herself. He switched the lamp off and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, Serena."

* * *

**Hope this is OK!  
Please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think!  
Sarah x**


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